Demonlover

2002 Mystery & Suspense

French director Olivier Assayas departs from his usual dramas with Demonlover, a wild thriller about corporate intrigue, hardcore sex Internet sites, and Japanese animé. Wealthy French business man Henri-Pierre Volf (Jean-Baptise Malartre) assigns Diane de Monx (Connie Nielson) to make a deal with TokyoAnime, a company at the forefront of three-dimensional adult animation, after his former assistant, Karen (Dominique Reymond), is kidnapped. Diane, however, is actually a spy for a different company. Standing in her way is another headstrong business woman (Gina Gershon), and Diane's assistant, Elise Lipsky (Oscar nominee Chloe Sevigny) who questions her boss' morality. Demonlover was screened at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival.

Director: Olivier Assayas

Starring: Connie Nielsen, Charles Berling, Chloe Sevigny, Gina Gershon, Jean-Baptiste Malartre

 30 Reviews  3 Awards

Reviews

  • It's an exasperating, irresistible, must-see mess of a movie about life in the modern world and so very good that even when its story finally crashes and burns the filmmaking remains unscathed.

    Manohla Dargis - Los Angeles Times

    19 January 2013

  • The entrancing visual imagery goes a long way toward filling in the screenplay's gaps in logic.

    Stephen Holden - The New York Times

    19 January 2013

  • Disturbing, darkly beautiful.

    Michael O'Sullivan - The Washington Post

    19 January 2013

  • Assayas can't resist turning Demonlover into an overcalculatedly irrational rabbit-hole-to-the-dark-side thriller. The movie morphs into a ''dream,'' all right, but I confess that all I wanted to do was wake up from it and return to the slithery intrigue of corporate depravity.

    Owen Gleiberman - Entertainment Weekly

    19 January 2013

  • Expect Demonlover to become a midnight-movie staple in the coming years. And expect shards of it to roil your dreams for weeks.

    Ty Burr - The Boston Globe

    19 January 2013

Awards

  • Denis Lenoir

    Camerimage (2002)

  • Olivier Assayas

    Cannes Film Festival (2002)

     

  • Sonic Youth

    Sitges - Catalonian International Film Festival (2002)

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