MovieChat Forums > Romance (1999) Discussion > What a total waste of Rocco Siffredi.

What a total waste of Rocco Siffredi.

posted 19 years ago by Monigan
1 reply | jump to latest

Catherine Breillat explores the same basic themes in every film, viz.: How men relate to women, how men hurt women, why women like it, why women hurt themselves, the arousing aspects of shame and dishonor, the subtler aspects of rape, of prostitution; power, innocence and experience, etc. etc. Right. So my question is, she's got Rocco Siffredi, who says more about gender, pain, sexual cruelty, machismo, the allure of virginity, of its destruction, the phallus as weapon, the beauty of female suffering and masochism, etc. etc. etc., in one sex scene than a gender theorist like Breillat could hope to express in ten straight hours of talking. Don't get me wrong, I sort of like Breillat, but I think she is at her best when she is showing not telling, as in the nightmarishly long deflowering that takes place in Fat Girl. So why cast Rocco as a mild, thoughtful, ultimately unsatisfactory lover as opposed to using his love of choking and breaking and tearing? He is the human realization of all that interests her.

[–] Professicchio 14 years ago

A while ago I read an article about Breillat and she had to say this on Siffredi: "Rocco is unlike any other porn actor, he fu**s with his heart, not his body", I believe she is saying something there that not many other women, particularly self-confessed feminists, are comfortable to talk about.

I think I kind of understand what she means as in many years there has never been shortage of young women willing to be the target of Rocco's "attentions" in his regular job, despite knowing quite well how potentially harmful that can be.
Rocco walks a fine line where his "passion" for the female body is such that lies on the border with mysoginy but, having heard him in interviews, as well as heard the opinion of other women that worked with him in the past, I'd say that Brellait is quite right in what she thinks of him: his acts are motivated by (sometimes excessive) passion, not misogyny, and there are quite a few women that can relate to that in their fantasies, although not many would openly confess it,due more to society's attitudes than women's.

On the other hand I remember Rocco saying this about her: "I think she has an unconscious desire to have sex with me, while filming Romance she would grab my penis with a certain ease, just to show the actress what to do". I don't know how seriously we can take Rocco's insights, but if true, that might explain her odd choice on casting him: she sees Rocco as her own "fantasy male" rather than the near-brute he is more widely known to be.

I agree with you that she is better when "she is showing not telling"; her dialogues are often painfully preposterous and unrealistic, like they are taken straight from a 2nd rate psychology book, while she definitely has a knack for making actors act and look comfortable and natural in the most awkward scenes.