QUICK’N DIRTY: LIVE FROM BERLIN
Based on Marco Bellocchio’s socio-satirical classic Fists in the Pocket (1965), and written by Greek screenwriter Efthimis Filippou – Yorgos Lanthimos’s regular collaborator in Dogtooth (2009), The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017) and Kinds of Kindness (2024) -, Karim Ainouz’s 14th feature film is very different to anything the director has done before. The psychosexual elements of Motel Destino (2025) spin dizzyingly out of control and morph into something far more shocking and repulsive.
A family a six Americans inhabit a sumptuous, modern and spacious villa overlooking the Mediterranean, not far from Barcelona (the movie’s first scene takes place in the city’s famous Montjuïc cablecar). The story is seen from the perspective – and largely narrated – by Edward (Callum Turner). The good-looking, fashion-clad young male cannot read, write or drive. He spends most of his time hitchhiking. Occasionally, unsuspecting drivers run him run. And he dreams of visiting his Greek friend George in Athens in order to see his penis, the first one ever in his life. His equally handsome older brother Jack (Jamie Bell) is in a relationship with blonde Martha, while the youngest of the men Robert (Lukas Gage) is infatuated with the firstborn. Sister Anna (Riley Keough) is mostly indifferent to the whims of her three male siblings. Dad was literally blinded by the sharp reflection of a light on mum’s surgically white teeth. The unsighted old men asserts control by ordering his four children to describe Martha’s physique in embarrassing detail. Socialite mum was devoured by wolves a couple of years earlier (or maybe not).
Robert and Edward have very clear and selfish objectives, and they are prepared to get rid of each and every family member in order to realise their perverse dreams. Edward spouts a prescient pearl of knowledge early on: “a person is like a rose, a family is like a rosebush, and every rosebush needs pruning”. It is clear from the outset that this family too needs pruning. It is not meant to last long in its current format. Blood will run. Bodily fluids will leak. In copious amounts even. Edward has the habit of ejaculating on the roses, while Jack masturbates dad and then applies his sperm to the toothpaste (the ultimate secret to teeth whitening). Rob slices his groin and wears lingerie in order to seduce Jack. The dirty, incestuous proclivities continue to manifest themselves in manifold ways, guaranteed to arouse and/or disgust viewers – depending on your their personal inclinations.
The bizarre plot is intended as criticism of wealthy Americans, particularly those dwelling abroad almost entirely oblivious to the local culture and language (barely a word in Spanish is uttered in the film, and none in Catalan). It is cheap sun-thrills that these inconvenient immigrants seek. Sadly, the film does little to confront these people, instead glamourising their obnoxious behaviour. Repeated mentions of expensive brands – Versace, Balenciaga, Bottega and Comme des Garcons – come across as promotional rather than critical.
Thematically, Rosebush Pruning belongs firmly to the Greek Weird Wave: the characters are sexually aberrant, creepy, cold (quasi-deadpan), incoherent, and entirely devoid of empathy. Thye handle the news of the death of a close relative with the casualness of Donald Trump vomiting a lie. The sexual deviation continues to escalate to the point of banality. The Brazilian director and the Greek writer set out to shock and jar viewers for the sake of it. The developments are colourful and fun, the soundtrack is groovy – including the Pet Shop Boy’s Paninaro -, however the story is mostly empty. The social satire becomes diluted in the ocean of blood and semen that permeates this tale of grotesque wealth and family envy.
Rosebush Pruning just premiered in the Official Competition of the 76th Berlinale.
