Before writing about this film, it is necessary to mention the notorious ''Brisseau Affair'': in 2003, a well-respected and critically-acclaimed French director Jean-Claude Brisseau (''Noce blanche'', ''L’Ange noir'') was charged with sexual harassment by actresses he ultimately didn’t cast for his previous film, "Choses secrètes'' (2002). In December 2005, he was sentenced to a one-year suspended prison sentence, 9,500 euros (US$11,000) of reparation and a 15,000 euro (US$17,000) fine. With this latest film, ''Les Anges exterminateurs'', Brisseau is effectively appealing that sentence, not to a court of justice, but to a court of public opinion, and especially to the movie going public. And he definitely succeeds. In the film, he tells the whole story, warts and all, of how he began to cast young actresses to play in his film, refusing to hire professional porn actresses for roles requiring real sexual acts (lesbian and masturbatory) to be performed in front of the camera. It is a dark and bitter comedy about embarrassment – first for the actresses and ultimately for the director, as he is accused, judged and condemned (just like in real life). Maroussia Dubreuil, Lise Bellynck, Marie Allan and Apolline Louis play the aspiring actresses whose auditions for a film begin to look increasingly like perverse sex games. The director asks the girls to masturbate in public places (restaurants, hotel corridors, etc.) and participate in lesbian orgies. In the process, one actress falls in love with another and the relationship of trust between the director and his actresses gradually collapses. It’s a brilliant film, masterfully directed and acted, and the fact that it tells a true story only makes it more exciting. And perverse.
