All About Anna (2005)

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Well, strange. There are porn films with no plot. Just they show what they show - sex. There are erotic films with no real sex but much nudity. There are films with slight erotic overtones and such. This one is a weird combination of serious life drama, sad and sometimes happy events, long shots, deep talks and a bit dull silent scenes. OK, let it be an Art House film. No, it is not, as it contains what is usually not in such films - explicit sex scenes in real porn fashion with everything clear and visible. Did it work? Many say it did and the Anna film is a decent European masterwork of real genius. Others say it is a lame shame of a film, with totally unnecessary sex scenes and vapid plot. I tend to agree with the second view. Apart from several explicit scenes, the film is a real boredom, and it drags, drags, drags miserably all along. What is is about, after all? Hard to say. It is so prosaic, even and flat that leaves you with one hanging concern what was it made and what for? I have no answer, maybe, just to show a lovely lady naked and show some boring sequences. This is all, I guess

Awful, awful, awful... what a terrible excuse for a film, pathetic idea, poorly executed, terrible cast, the main guy is a Thor like douchebag of epic proportions! It's films like these that strike fear into my own heart when I think about directing a film, that I too may make something as God-awful and dreadful as this...If you've ever seen "Sorted" by Alex Jovy, you'll have an idea of how vapid and terrible this film is...If this is what happens with the "democratization" of filmmaking due to digital video cameras, I say bring back totalitarianism hence forth...Just burn the master tapes, forget it ever happened...

First things first: There are only few notable merits regarding this particular "experiment" but it is certainly not completely devoid of them: for one, the director attempted to create a counterbalance to what is universally considered as the problem of the mainstream pornographic motion picture, be it soft core or hardcore: the presentation of a mechanical, emotionless, unengaging, uninspiring and ultimately tiresome repetition of sexual acts aiming solely at the physical arousal of its viewers and probably achieving that in the first few minutes; rendering the rest of it as a distasteful and vicious circle.The producers misleadingly labelled it as "pornography for women", perhaps acknowledging the fact that the scenes are not explicit enough to present it as the hardcore pornography they would have liked. And a large portion of it probably isn't as it seemingly provides to bridge the gap between hardcore pornography and erotica and create a film that would ultimately excite the senses in both a physical but also an emotional level as well as provide an engaging storyline that would justify the sex scenes as a meaningful entity of the whole. If that was the initial intention, as the producers of AAA claim it to be, it certainly wasn't given justice by the end result - in spite of the fact that that premise and intention was probably there in the offing. This is less evident in the actual producer's cut or even the director's cut of the film but a lot more evident from the outtakes of several of the sex scenes included on the DVD: they are long, varied, passionate, well rehearsed and acted and emotionally engaging; while the camera work is such that makes them appear both sensual and realistic. They're shot in a way as to provide a clue to the fact that most of the sex in the film is unsimulated; but with a more cryptic, more erotic vision, contradictory to the average porn sensibility.It's not surprising that this film is described as a collaboration of a major mainstream pornographic production company and Lars Von Trier's Zentropa. But this dichotomy ultimately leans towards the side of the porn producers as they seem to win over the intentions of the director and probably some of the actors themselves who probably had a more concrete idea of what they wanted to achieve or rather what they wanted to avoid. As a consequence, although there is the actual "philosophy" of supporting the making of such a film - the existence of a "manifesto" in the like of Dogme95 that states the preferable and the avoidable - it all seems to escalate and ultimately fly in the face of that it was purported to be. Crudely put, there are facial ejaculation scenes; there is "cheap" music that is supposed to "complement" the sex - but in fact it is totally out of place. There is also a sorry excuse of a script and what is supposed to be a storyline but it is all done so poorly that can hardly conceal the fact that there isn't one. And most importantly: there is bad acting - which is quite surprising given the fact that some of the actors are allegedly unfamiliar with the territory and are earning their living from participating in more socially acceptable genres of film-making. However, judging by the actual acting in the film - give and take the sex scenes - either the levels of acting in Denmark are really low at the moment or these particular actors are hardly adequate in their chosen field. All the more so when particular emphasis is given towards presenting a story: the bad acting and lack of a meaningful plot to back things up create an even bigger problematic. Then there's the attempt to dress it all up with the addition of a supporting cast that comes straight from hardcore pornography; acting in more explicit and conventional scenes and overall giving a very uneven feel to the whole endeavour. Why add more characters and more scenes and "embroider" the film with what was supposed to be trying to avoid in the first place? Let alone make things even more complicated and disjointed when the leading characters themselves are so underdeveloped? It's therefore obvious that the initial intention was not shared by all of the people involved and consequently not sustained throughout the project - which is a shame and perhaps a wasted opportunity? The end product ultimately reflects those dichotomies: It's half-baked to such an extent that would equally disappoint both the fans of porn - because of the lack of enough explicit scenes they are accustomed to watching - but also those viewers who, deluded by the producers' promises, were prepared for watching something entirely different. It is different but not different enough to dissociate it from mainstream porn in terms of overall sensibility or production values. Finally some suggestions in case somebody else attempts something similar: give the director more artistic freedom to shoot what they like and present the film the way they like. Give them more time to work on it and have a more concrete picture as to what they aim to achieve. Lose the voice-over, especially when the script is so poor; get a decent scriptwriter to write a meaningful story, not an excuse for bad acting. Or perhaps simply give Lars Von Trier himself the camera and step aside...

Contains Spoilers, but the plot is not that deep so it shouldn't bother you much.The film is hard to categorize. It starts out being a mainstream film with a lot of sex and ends up more like a hard or soft core pornographic film. The actors and actresses are not the typical blue movie film crew. They act like normal people while having sex and none of them seem to have been physically enhanced, The star, Gry Bay, is a true natural beauty - not at all like the typical "silicone bombshell" that plays in the blue movies. The film as a whole has more serious plot and character elements than pornography, but not enough to convince me that it is a serious film.The movie begins very well. Anna is left for 5 years by the love of her life, Johan, because he has a wanderlust. She morns him for a while then decides to just "have fun" with multiple partners and no commitments. Eventually, Frank comes along, who cares for her. Even though he isn't the great love that Johan was, Anna likes being cared for, so they move in together. Then, Johan shows up as one of their movers. A multitude of conflicting feeling come in on Anna and Gry Bay is excellent at conveying them quickly and effectively. Also at this time Anna takes on a female roomer, Carmella. Johan knows he made a big mistake but doesn't know how to remedy it, so he makes excuses to see Anna again. These are some of the best scenes in the movie. In one very charming scene, he brings her a shoe that may have gotten lost in the move. Like a fairy tale he tries to put it on her foot to see if it fits. In another wonderful scene where sex becomes comedy, Anna and Johan start to make love, while Frank is asleep in the next room. Frank wakes up and they abruptly stop, just managing to get dressed with Johan leaving just ahead of Frank stumbling sleepily into the room. Up to about the half way mark, the film is quite successful. The characters ring true and the plot is interesting - dramatic with touches of humor. The sex scenes make sense in the context of the film and move the plot and character development forward. But after this point, everything changes. It is as though a different director and writer took over. Suddenly the plot seems to be there only to introduce the next sex scene. Character development is forgotten and the thinest pretext is taken as a motive for everyone to get undressed. What started out as a mainstream film integrating strong sexual elements, now becomes pornography trying unsuccessfully to cross over into mainstream.I won't bore you with the rest of the plot, if you can call it that. Basically we all know Anna and Johan will get back together, but first the plot has to be manipulated so that we can give some sex scenes to the roommate, to an different couple, to Anna with other people, and lets not forget the obligatory lesbian scene to say nothing of the big sex scene when they are finally reunited. It is a film that is difficult to categorize. I haven't seen a lot of pornography, but what I have seen ended up being mostly boring. This is better than that. But it is worse than a film like "Lie With Me" which really does integrate strong sex, characters and plot. All About Anna lives it in that frustrating limbo of "almost films" that whet your appetite but never satisfy it. There are some positives, however. The first half is good. Watching Gry Bay either clothed or unclothed is worthwhile in itself. She is a beautiful woman and an accomplished actress. She could have taken this movie somewhere if the script had been better. She deserved a better film.