Let the Corpses Tan: Psychedelic Pulp Nightmare
With a heavy haul of 250 kilograms of gold bullion, the grizzled criminal mastermind, Rhino, and his ruthless gang of cutthroats, head to a ramshackle retreat somewhere in the Mediterranean to lay low on a scorching day of July. However, the unexpected and rather unwelcome arrival of the bohemian writer, Bernier, his muse, Luce, along with a pair of no-joke gendarmes further complicates things, as the frail allegiances will soon be put to the test. 1
A well-worn critique that you might hear used against certain films is “they chose style over substance”. It’s a familiar battle-cry for the anti-arthouse crowd. Sometimes they have a point, God knows I’ve seen a lot of shit art films recently. But they do tend to miss the forest for the trees.
Simultaneously a pastiche and abstraction of giallo cinema, Poliziotteschi and Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns: Let the Corpses Tan is a sensualist fever dream. It boasts hundreds of breathtaking shots, kinetic, frenzied editing and slick – yet gruesome – sound design.
Despite the synopsis above, the story is incredibly minimal. Which I love. Sure it sags in the middle, sometimes confuses with its hyperactive editing, but this isn’t what we’re here for. Arthouse meeting grindhouse in ultra-saturated 16mm is.
Directors Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani create a masterful tribute to Leone’s signature camerawork. They utilise close-up after close-up, focusing on facial features, sweating bodies, searing sunlight. It’s a pleasingly tactile film. Literal pulp.
The sumptuous use of colour and silhouette throughout, courtesy of cinematographer Manuel Dacosse, is reason alone to watch. The heavy grain of the film stock reminded me of Panos Cosmatos’ Mandy, another modern exploitation film with stellar photography. It adds to a film obsessed with texture, from sun-kissed skin to the hot leather trousers of the gendarme.
Maximalist cinema alienates me – The Substance is a noted culprit – but Cattet and Forzani keep the film balanced with a decidedly grounded, sparse story.
This lack of narrative detail allows for the arthouse elements to fill in the gaps; rather than being an overwhelming collection of parodic techniques, it allows us to examine and absorb the themes much easier. Violence. Sex. Greed.
Even the nature of art is explored; the writer (Marc Barbé) and his former muse (Elina Löwensohn) daydream about their past as avant-garde artists. In stunning sequences involving gold paint, mock crucifixion and piss-play we see their former selves as literal shadows indulging in hedonistic performance pieces. They reminisce on a time when they were alive; in the act of creation.
The decisions made when faced with their reality – advancing age and mortal danger – add a subtle layer of melodrama underneath the vibrant, primary colours of Corpses.
Cattet and Forzani have a fixation with detail. They demonstrate this best with their editing: inserts of a twenty-four hour clock-face, highlighting the passage of seconds and minutes. They wind the clock back by the smallest increments to show an alternative perspective of a dramatic moment.
Interspersed with footage of ants crawling, drowning or burning in a replica of the villa, the futility of the violence and greed is made clear. It all passes through time, changing nothing.
If you’re a fan of Sergio Leone, watch Let the Corpses Tan. The homage is enjoyable by itself, but you might find yourself engaged with the highbrow choices made. But more importantly, all Tarantino fanboys should watch this.
This is the film Quentin wishes he could’ve made. I’ve not asked him but I’m sure its true. It does what he’s been attempting for decades in a thoughtful, inventive and brave way. It’s better than all his films bar Jackie Brown.
What sets Cattet and Forzani apart from other genre fetishists is craftsmanship. They push through those boundaries and create something much greater than the sum of its parts.
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https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/422708-laissez-bronzer-les-cadavres↩