SummaryParis, Summer 1979. Anne (Vanessa Paradis) produces third-rate gay porn. After her editor and lover Lois leaves her, she tries to win her back by shooting her most ambitious film yet with her trusted, flaming sidekick Archibald. But one of her actors is brutally murdered and Anne gets caught up in a strange investigation that turns her life upsid... Read More
Directed By:Yann Gonzalez
Written By:Yann Gonzalez, Cristiano Mangione
Knife + Heart
Metascore
Generally Favorable
70
User score
Generally Favorable
6.6
My Score
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Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
76% Positive
13 Reviews
13 Reviews
24% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Apr 1, 2019
100
I highly suggest seeking out Knife+Heart if you like 70s & 80s B-movie and exploitation films. This was a spot-on homage to the beloved genre. It’s hilarious and haunting and genuinely beautiful, an ambitious film that the more prudish amongst us will be squirming in their seats during. So this is definitely not something to go see with your parents, regardless of your and their ages.
Oct 4, 2018
83
The gauzy cinematography also helps, as does the mise-en-scène, which poses Anne’s chosen family of proud perverts in studied tableaus reminiscent of the Renaissance masters. Only, you know, in a porno.
User score
Generally Favorable
59% Positive
10 Ratings
10 Ratings
29% Mixed
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
12% Negative
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
Jun 10, 2019
9
Admirers of Mario Bava's color schemes and Dario Argento's better gialli should rejoice that Knife + Heart so beautifully captures what was best about their work. As for the rest, Gonzalez takes gleeful advantage of the 1979 Paris setting, his brother M83's score, and what I can only imagine to be a fantasy notion of the 1979 world of gay porn. Everyone on screen seems to be having a great time, and to surrender to the film's madness means to have a wonderful time as a viewer.
Jun 10, 2019
8
A different take into the slasher cinema.... and it seems it's back!!!
The overall neon aesthetics are well balanced they create the perfect color palette that fits in the proper environments and like i said, they are well balanced so the film doesn't look to over saturated of bright colors.
The concept is dark and the story is well executed, is not rushed nor slow it is in a middle spot that makes the story take his proper time to unveil.
There are moments where the "motives" of a character are not so clear in a cense of "why he is doing that" but that moment doesn't take that long to start to make cense.
the acting is great, the photography is beautiful to look, the color correction makes the film has that unique feeling of a late 70s euro film, and the soundtrack... damn!!!! it's amazing.
Apr 5, 2022
80
The result is a luridly coloured, transgressively queered piece of self-conscious schlock where cutting is the business of lovesick killers as much as filmmakers – and both cut right to the heart.
May 19, 2018
80
Knife hits you from its very first frame — and this is really a frame of celluloid and not a file of gigabytes — as a work engulfed in the pleasures of filmmaking's past.
May 19, 2018
60
Gonzalez can be masterful in conjuring sexy imagery, febrile moods and erotic frissons, but his grip on the storytelling here is weak. Knife + Heart struggles to regain its initial momentum, falling flat until a lively climax.
May 19, 2018
40
It really is strange, a film with what is actually a pretty good premise for a comedy, but with no interest in actually being a comedy and also no interest in being a thriller, or even that mysterious erotic parable that it seems to be claiming to be.
Oct 12, 2022
5
I liked its aura. It has a tone of exoticism that at first I found quite attractive, but the joys begin to run out when you notice the pattern and how repetitive it becomes and for a film that fails to be either horrifying, comic or serious, the options are exhausted and the minutes begin to exceed too much that by the end I felt rushed to finish it.
Production Company:
- CG Cinéma
- Piano
- Garidi Films
- Arte France Cinéma
- Radio Télévision Suisse (RTS)
- Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée (CNC)
- ARTE
- Canal+
- Ciclic - Région Centre
- Région Centre Val-de-Loire
- Eficine 189
- Memento Films
- Kinology
- Cofinova 14
Release Date:Mar 15, 2019
Duration:1 h 42 m
Awards
CinEuphoria Awards
• 2 Wins & 15 Nominations
Cannes Film Festival
• 2 Nominations
Prix Jean Vigo
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
