Anatomy of Hell (2003)

26% of critics liked it
(34 reviews)
37% of users liked it
(3,156 ratings)

A lonely and dejected woman (Amira Casar) learns that only when all inhibitions are cast aside will she be able to truly understand the truth about how men see women in this erotically charged exploration of sexuality from controversial director Catherine Breillat. Teetering on the edge of… More A lonely and dejected woman (Amira Casar) learns that only when all inhibitions are cast aside will she be able to truly understand the truth about how men see women in this erotically charged exploration of sexuality from controversial director Catherine Breillat. Teetering on the edge of overwhelming ennui, the woman pays a man (Rocco Siffredi) to join her for a daring, four-day exploration of sexuality in which both reject all convention and smash all boundaries while locked away from society in an isolated estate. Only when the man and woman confront the most unspeakable aspects of their sexuality will they have a pure understanding of how the sexes view one another. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 17 min.
Directed By: Catherine Breillat
Written By: Catherine Breillat
Genres: Drama, Art House & International, Special Interest

In Theaters: Sep 24, 2004 Wide
On DVD: Jan 25, 2005
Studio: Tartan Films

Critic Reviews

Peter Howell, Toronto Star
The movie strongly suggests that to be gay is to be a misogynist, that all men wish to do violence to women and that being female is the same as being miserable.
Rick Groen, Globe and Mail
Forget the Anatomy, this is just plain Hell.
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Plays like porn dubbed by bitter deconstructionist theoreticians.
Achy Obejas, Chicago Tribune
A ponderous but very, very explicit exploration of gender roles and fears that frequently seems like a parody of the genre.
Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter
Ultimately less reminiscent of similarly themed efforts like Last Tango in Paris than of an explicit health education training film.
Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly
No one takes the fun out of sex like Catherine Breillat.
Jay Antani, Cinema Writer
A waste of cinema, and of precious time.
Eric Henderson, Slant Magazine
More than you ever wanted to know about the vagina, which isn't good enough for Catherine Breillat.
Eric Henderson, Slant Magazine
The ultimate lesson being taught isn't how homosexuality can be transposed to kinky hetero sex games.
Eric D. Snider, EricDSnider.com
I hate this movie, but only because it hated me first.
Sean Means, Salt Lake Tribune
Breillat reduces sexuality to the basest coupling of body parts, and Anatomy of Hell reduces film to freak-show voyeurism.
Anton Bitel, Movie Gazette
Vagina dialogue this may be, but it seems much more like a bunch of arse.
Jamie Russell, BBC
One of the most groundbreaking films in recent memory in terms of both the explicitness of its sexuality and its commitment to such an austere intellectual discourse.
Bruce Kirkland, Jam! Movies
Given that [Breillat's] premise is that all men are guilty and all women are victims in the same manner, the film becomes a ridiculous socio-political rant, not a drama about the complexity of real life.

Read all 14 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Dean M

Awfully, sickening as it's shocking of two strangers explore the boundaries of sex and bad taste in this explicit and unseemly French import.
Walter M

[font=Century Gothic]In "Anatomy of Hell", a heterosexual woman(Amira Casar) begins slitting her wrists in a nightclub bathroom when she is interrupted by a gay man(Rocco Siffredi). He escorts her to a clinic where she is patched up. They become acquainted and she invites… More
[font=Century Gothic]In "Anatomy of Hell", a heterosexual woman(Amira Casar) begins slitting her wrists in a nightclub bathroom when she is interrupted by a gay man(Rocco Siffredi). He escorts her to a clinic where she is patched up. They become acquainted and she invites him back to her place to view her in all her intimate glory. He is less than thrilled with the proposition until she offers to handsomely recompense him. He agrees to the offer.[/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic]"Anatomy of Hell' is not a bad idea for a movie. For example, it is always a good thing when men and women exchange sexual information about their respective genders.(I learned a good deal about sex from my women friends in college.) But the movie wallows in pretentiousness and neither performer were apparently cast because of their acting ability. Catherine Breillat had already covered similar territory in the superior "Brief Crossing." I did think the tampon scene was informative, though. [/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font]