Brazilian director Karim Aïnouz’s latest film “Rosebush Pruning” is a remake of Marco Bellocchio’s classic Italian film “Fists in the Pocket” (1965), a film that I am aware of but unfortunately have never seen, so am unable to really compare the two. Aïnouz really scored a coup when he was able to lure the co-writer of “Dogtooth” (2009), Efthimis Filippou to script this new film, as the two films actually have a lot in common, dealing with family issues that are, lets say, not of the norm or more extreme than you would expect. Aïnouz followed this up by stacking his cast with an insane amount of talent with Callum Turner, Jamie Bell, Riley Keough, Tracy Letts, Lukas Gage, Elle Fanning, Pamela Anderson and Elena Anaya rounding out what is truly an amazing cast. Finally, Aïnouz has re-teamed with his regular cinematographer Hélène Louvart who lenses “Rosebush Pruning” in lurid, and garish colours that burst onto the screen. All the ingredients are here to make a brilliant film, and yet, “Rosebush Pruning” turns out to be something of a wild misstep for director Karim Aïnouz. It is loud, aggressive, disgusting, vulgar, and horrible. Or at least this is what I thought for most of the film, however I strangely found myself more on it's demented wavelength the longer it went along, and even found myself laughing in a couple of spots too.
Let me state upfront, as something of a warning of sorts, “Rosebush Pruning” is an extreme film filled with outrageous situations that I think most “normal” cinema goers would find revolting and in bad taste. Believe me, I am no prude when it comes to cinema and can handle most things, but even I was shocked by the depravity regularly shown onscreen here. The worst part about it all was that these moments seemed to be there just to shock the audience, or worse, in an attempt of some kind of misplaced humour. It was no surprise to me that there were a number of walk outs during my session of “Rosebush Pruning” because quite frankly, for the majority of the film, I too was disgusted with it. Here are just some of the questionable material that appears in “Rosebush Pruning”; one brother has a fetish for menstrual blood, one brother wants to sleep with his brother, the sister also wants to sleep with the same brother, the blind father needs nightly help from a family member to brush his teeth which ultimately goes a lot further than dental care, and this is before all of the killing begins. I am sure the film is meant to be satirical about how wealth and privilege ultimately causes emotional decay and a lack of moral compass, but I feel the message is lost via the bombastic way the story has been told.
It does not take long to realise that all of the characters in “Rosebush Pruning” are absolutely horrible; they are out to get whatever they can for themselves, and they do not care who they hurt while trying to get it. The ironic thing is that being as rich as they are, they have everything that they could possibly need, to the point that they are all so bored in their lives, that they are willing to go to the extremes just to spice it up a bit. Another interesting element of this family dynamic is that they all clearly hate one another, and yet, they also could not live without each other because they live in their own created little world of depravity which no one else would go along with outside of the family. I mentioned above the excellent cast of “Rosebush Pruning” and unfortunately I feel almost everyone gives a terrible performance here, with the exception of Jamie Bell, who is really quite good as Jack, the most normal of the family members. That brings me to a quandary; is it possible that all of these very talented actors are giving poor performances or is it because the characters that they are playing are so disgusting, that I have discounted their acting ability in playing them? I honestly do not know the answer to this, but I liked none of their performances and thought they were far too heightened and smarmy, except Bell who, again, makes a real character out of Jack, but he is also the most likeable of the family too. I also do not think the actors have been given a lot to work with either, and despite his reputation (and I have absolutely loved a lot of the films he has written), I think the script Efthimis Filippou has written is rather poor. The dialogue in particular is crude and trashy, but again, I think it is meant to be funny, which does not work (at least for me). Due to the similarities between “Dogtooth” and “Rosebush Pruning” it is as if Filippou is trying to up the ante, in regards to the extreme material, of that earlier Yorgos Lanthimos film, but he does not get close to equalling the brilliance of that film.
While I am usually a big fan of Hélène Louvart's cinematography, particularly her past collaborations with Karim Aïnouz, this is another area of “Rosebush Pruning” that I wasn't a fan of, as I actually thought it was quite a ugly film to look at. This had to do with the lurid colours on display, and the constant close ups of facial imperfections on the characters such as moles, freckles or acne scars. I will admit that there are some impressive shots in the film, particularly the slow motion shots involving the wolves bounding down the mountain, and two characters enjoying their pool during the final credits, but for the most part I was disappointed with the visual aspect of the film, which is usually the strongest element in a film directed by Karim Aïnouz.
Now, here comes the weird part. After absolutely hating the film for the majority of it's running time, something happened to me towards the end where I found myself liking it and was even on it's wavelength in regards to it's dark comedy. I am not sure if it was just because these unlikable characters were finally getting their comeuppance that my opinion towards the film started to change or if I genuinely got onboard with the strange atmosphere and tone of “Rosebush Pruning”. One moment I found myself laughing at was the reaction between Jack and his mother, when he tells her that Dad is dead; it really is quite silly, but it was like a circuit breaker for me and I relaxed into the film more from this point. There is a very good scene about a third of the way into the film though when Jack brings his girlfriend, Martha, over for lunch to meet the family. It is such an awkward scene, as the blind father asks his children to describe Martha to him including her “bosom”, as the family members bicker about her breast size with poor Martha sitting right there. It is very funny, and also the best acting within the film as the actors work really well as an ensemble during this moment. Anyway, as the (very impressive) end credits rolled on “Rosebush Pruning”, I couldn't work out if I hated the film, or ended up liking the film, which made me feel very confused indeed. (Thankfully the film hit MUBI's streaming site, ironically, on the same night as my MIFF screening, so I can have a second viewing soon).
Overall, after my initial viewing of “Rosebush Pruning” I found it to be something of a misstep from Karim Aïnouz; a failed satire that all it is essentially saying is that money can not buy you class. It is an extreme film, filled with extreme situations that I do not recommend to anyone who may be prudish, filled with horrible characters doing horrible things to one another, while sprouting crude and trashy dialogue. Unfortunately, I also do not think Aïnouz has done a great job with the pacing of the film either, as it stops dead in a couple of places before picking up once more for the finale. Despite all of this, I still want to watch it again, as I found myself more in sync with the strange tone of the film towards it's end, however after this first viewing I think it is safe to say I found “Rosebush Pruning” to be quite the disappointment.
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