Savage Nights (1992)

the audience applauded

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Don't Believe the Hype

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

"Les nuits fauves" is one of the most honest films I have ever seen about human condition and one of the aspects of our sexuality. For a start, the depiction of ambisexuality is quite sincere, showing the suffering this ambiguous sexual behavior (considered an orientation, in spite of its apparent lack of direction) brings to people really involved or in love with the so-called bisexual entity who feels attracted to both men and women. The motion picture is not fiction or a bad joke, but mainly facts based on Cyril Collard's own life, who infected the woman he was involved with (played here by Romane Bohringer), knowing he was HIV-positive. First came the revelation through the novel of the same title, and then the film, in which he played his own part because no French actor even considered to play it, finding it too risky for their careers. Collard plays himself apparently as he was: a vain, irresponsible, hedonistic strong case of satyriasis (the male counterpart for female erotic mania), and thanks for his daring to show his lifestyle, his passions and his mistakes, at least he left a starting point for open-minded partners to discuss a subject that may be affecting their relationships. It is a film as hard and bleak as Wong Kar-Wai's "Happy Together", but both are necessary. There is time for "To Wong Foo" and for "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert"; there is even time for explicitness. But there should be also time for putting moralistic judgment aside, and watch and talk about dramas that show aspects of our condition that we tend to trivialize or deny, and that may make unhappy the persons we love. Five days after Cyril Collard died, "Les nuits fauves" won the César (France's top film prize) for Best Film, Best First Work, Best Film Editing and Best Female Newcomer (Miss Bohringer, who three years later played again the "victim" of two men in love: Leonardo DiCaprio and David Thewlis, as Rimbaud and Verlaine, in Total Eclipse). Collard's motion picture also won the Audience Award, the International Film Critics Prize and the Special Jury Prize at the Festival of Young Cinema, in Torino, Italy.

Terrible, meaningless French film with trademark French characters who are totally unlikeable and completely self centred. Plot deals with a very heavy, multi-layered subject - that of AIDS and bi-sexual relationships - yet fails entirely in its attempt to do anything with it.The whole movie is almost like a lame excuse for controversial sex scenes, though this is nothing new to the French. The reasonably strong performances from the lead players can do nothing to redeem their ugly roles and the nonsense which one might otherwise call a storyline. "Savage Nights" never stood a chance! This is such a bad movie its just plain frustrating trying to sift through the mess, confusion and loathsome people to find a reason why? Why?!! All controversy and no idea! Just downright awful! When you tell a story, have a point.Friday, September 15, 1995 - Astor Theatre

I don't think you can say that this film is excellent or good, pointless to say that. It's personal and will grow on me as I constantly relate to it's aspects the older I get. I love seeing what being in love can do to someone, it's so romantic.

This film somehow seems like an observational documentary, a whirlwind trip inside somebody's life and mind, with all of the turbulence and contradiction that our lives often have. I've seen this film described as hysterical. Perhaps some lives do function on a more fraught emotional plane than others and that rollercoaster ride ascends to great pleasures as well as sinking toward the inevitable depths that tangibly fierce existences must face.What a talent Collard was. Perhaps this would have been his finest moment had he lived. Somehow I feel that his consumate talent was just flowering when his body finally succumbed to his illness. Technically it is competent rather than outstanding, yet there are some scenes that have been arranged beautifully. However, the true magic in this film lies in its restricted narrative. All emotions are allowed to express themselves freely. The shots are relentless in their gaze. Collard's character makes the choice to live and to love, within the context of what life has in store for him. Where some cinema pontificates and emotionally rapes the audience, this film priviliges the viewer. We see non-hegemonic cinematic bravery and an engagement with freedom, and how that leaves one raw and damaged. Yet each day alive is a gift. We are fortunate indeed to share Collard's gift within this film and I urge those who have not seen it to do so.