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List Price: $24.98 | | Label: Lions Gate
Salesrank: 94765
Released: March 16, 2004 |
| Our Price: $4.50 |
| Used Price: $0.95 |
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MPAA Rating: Unrated
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
DVD Special Bonus Features:
- Interviews with:
- Connie Nielsen
- Charles Berling
- Chloë Sevigny
- Olivier Assayas
- 16x9 Widescreen
- 5.1 DTS Surround
- 2.0 DTS Stereo
- English & Spanish Subtitles
- Previews
Description of Demonlover (R-Rated Edition):
The most fearless film yet by France's idiosyncratic Olivier Assayas (Irma Vep) is an unholy marriage of ruthless corporate thriller and sinister science fiction. Connie Nielsen is the American "ice princess" in a French multination, an ambitious executive whose betrayals and invasive tactics would make her a villain in any other film. Here she's just a pawn in a shadowy conspiracy that may involve contemptuous new assistant Chloe Sevigny and fellow dealmaker Charles Berling and takes her from the legal (if unsavory) commerce of Japanese Internet porn to the brutal market of underground pornography. Assayas directs his modern corporate nightmare with a voyeuristic style, a hard eye for disturbing images, and more passion than explanation. It isn't his most audience-friendly film, but his portrait of international commerce and image culture in the 21st century is impassioned and haunting--cinema for viewers hungry for ambitious and provocative filmmaking. --Sean Axmaker
Demonlover (R-Rated Edition) Reviews:
"Send Us Your Fantasy And We Will Make It Real" ~ Anime, Cyberspace and Emma Peel In Spandex 
2009-11-14 - Note: Presented in French with English subtitles.
The 2002 release `Demonlover' directed by Olivier Assayas starts out as a immensely intriguing exploration into highly unethical, cut throat big business practices, both corporate and individual, as carried out in the high tech, Asian erotic world of Anime fantasy and cyberspace. I found the initial premise to be not only fascinating, but extremely relevant in today's overly indulgent, dangerously narcisstic environment. With such a unique storyline the possibilities seemed endless and I joyfully settled back for the ride.
Imagine how disappointed I became as I watched this wonderful storyline devolve into a "I saw what you did" revenge plot involving office politics, a missing body, kidnapping, drugs, and internet porn. To further complicate matters an excruciatingly slow tempo, terse dialogue and obscure direction make it increasingly hard for the audience to maintain focus to the end.
Despite the overall good production values and strong cast the mismanaged, convoluted script places this film in the category of "what could have been, but wasn't". If it hadn't been for the presence of the seductive Connie Nielsen I don't think I would've been able to continue to watch all the way through.
I drank the potion she offered me, I found myself on the floor 
2009-07-30 - Demonlover: 4 out of 10: Wow what an overlong train wreck of a movie. Before I begin to scratch the surface of the ineptitude of this film let me explain the few things Demonlover does right.
Demonlover does some things very well. It has individual scenes that work on their own either as erotic vignettes; (Chloe Sevigny playing videogames in the nude , an Asian girl seducing a French man at a club after his lover leaves.) or plot actions (dosing a bottled water with Halcion) before the film ventures down the rabbit hole twenty odd minutes in.
So how can a thriller dealing with bondage and Hentai and starring Chloë Sevigny, Gina Gershon, and the hot redhead from Devils Advocate, Connie Nielsen, possibly go wrong?
Well for one thing, there are cloistered nuns that know more about marketing animated porn online than writer/director Olivier Assayas does. I often complain about movies where the writers and director have clearly never worked in an office (13 Going on 30 for example) but this is over the top. The French, as an example, are worried about a secret website that makes lots of money. If the website makes lots of money wait for it it probably is not a secret. Moreover, I am sure that cornering the online Hentai traffic is an unattainable goal. After all, how hard is it to draw new tentacle porn?
In addition, I doubt many corporate spies scale the sides of buildings or poison colleagues. Moreover, with the silliest script this side of The Core you cannot depend on the ever confusing and contrived plot.
I know I praised the sex scenes above but with this cast, I was expecting more, a lot more. Also I often did not know where the movie was taking place. (are they in Tokyo or France is a popular game you can play.)
Then there is the car chase, at the end, that looks like an outtake from Vanishing Point. (As Tom Servo would have said Meanwhile in another decade)The film is overlong, very confusing, somewhat boring and the characters IQs seem to drop every scene. After the fifteenth fade to black transition, I actually screamed end already at the screen.
In reality, this seems to be a badly done remake of Videodrome. Olivier Assayas is clearly no David Cronenberg. He cannot even tell a simple story in a believable and entertaining manner. Or take advantage of three of the hottest actresses in the business.
Demonlover 
2009-01-18 - This is a haunting, intriguing, well-written film, much more intellectually developed than could be determined by the name. Chloe Sevigny gives an outstanding performance. Since seeing Ms. Sevigny in "Zodiac", "Brown Bunny", "Shattered Glass" and now in "Demonlover", I have become her biggest fan. She gives a chillingly cold-hearted performance in "Demonlover".
Dystopia of the New Millenia
2007-04-03 - Demonlover is a very modernist film which deserves to be alligned with the great dystopic novels of the previous century, "We", "the Iron Heel", and particularly "1984" with one proviso its primary impact as opposed to literary is videogenic.
It tells the story of a corportate executive, appropriatly female, who will go to any lengths to succeed according to her on self-defined, narcisstic standards at odds with her objective appearances and in stark contrast to others expectations. Brash and domineering she uses a free floating cynicism to treacherously sell her corporate secrets to others for monetary gain thinking self-assuredly that her private intrique and machinations are curiously invioable, just as many criminals do. This is the first half of the film, in the second part of which so many critics don't like, all this ballsy swagger is shown to be an act of utter self-deluding fantasy; she has underestimated her antagonist and she instead of manipulating the system for her own gain she devolves into a most contemptible slave to it. A powerful morality tale for the times.
Intriguing, But Unsatisfying
2006-08-22 - I watched this film from start to finish, which suggests I found it interesting enough to stick with. But, I was also totally perplexed by its many nonsensical plot twists. For example, it took me far too long to figure out that it takes place in the "high rolling" world of corporate financed porn (an intriguing idea, given the fact that I had no idea such a world existed - I always thought of the porn industry as much more contained and independent).
DEMONLOVER is a little too stylized for its own good - its focus on form completely overwhelms its paper thin storyline. Connie Nielson is very good, but could have been so much better with a stronger script. I debated giving it only 2 stars, but felt the performances merited a stronger rating.
