A small ocean of bodily fluids is spilled in Karim Ainouz’s macabre and messy family comedy Rosebush Pruning (which had its world premiere to a mixed reception in the Berlin Film Festival competition this weekend). The Brazilian director dips his fingers in blood, semen, sweat and tears. His film has more than its share of bizarre and arresting moments – Riley Keough pleasuring herself with an aubergine; Callum Turner using toothpaste in a very novel way – but this warped satire is ultimately neither as shocking nor as funny as you initially hope it’s going to be.
Turner, strongly tipped as the next 007, shows plenty of delinquent swagger as Edward, a spoiled American rich kid living with his dysfunctional family in a villa in the Spanish countryside. By his own admission, he, like the rest of his siblings, is a “lazy, mediocre, vapid, egotist”. He takes pride in neither reading nor writing, but has an all-consuming love of fashion. His lesbian mother (Pamela Anderson) has seemingly been eaten alive by wolves. His sister Anna (Keough) is an aspiring punk guitarist. One of his brothers, Robert (Lukas Gage), has frequent epileptic fits. The other, Jack (Jamie Bell), is the most normal of the brood – but even he has his quirks. Presiding over them all is their father (Tracy Letts), a blind, lecherous and thoroughly repulsive figure with strange carnal appetites. Elle Fanning plays Jack’s girlfriend, Martha, an outsider regarded with hostility by the rest of the family who criticise her about everything from the size of her breasts to her cheap, broken watch. Edward thoroughly despises the family and would happily see them wiped off the face of the earth. Jack is the only one he thinks might just about deserve to live.
The film is inspired by Marco Bellocchio’s Italian new wave classic, Fists in the Pocket (1965), about a disturbed young man who plots to kill off most of his family. It is scripted by Greek writer Efthimis Filippou, best known for his work with Yorgos Lanthimos, and has some of the same barbed, surrealist humour found in Lanthimos films like The Lobster and Kinds of Kindness. This is also an assault on the filthy rich which, at certain moments, carries echoes of Mike White’s The White Lotus.
One problem facing Ainouz? When he clearly has such disdain for his film’s characters, it’s very hard for audiences not to feel the same way about them. The Brazilian is better known for steamy melodramas like Madame Sata and Motel Destino, so directing family farces like this is a stretch too far. The film has some very strange shifts in tone and pacing. None of the cast members are natural comic actors. Moments that should be morbidly funny often fall flat. All the references to fashion designers become increasingly grating. Characters here have dreams about Donatella Versace and are sent into throes of ecstasy by the sight of a new pair of Bottega shoes, or even a mention of Balenciaga’s name. At times, the storytelling also becomes surprisingly crude. In one late scene, Edward receives a dick pic from his best friend and potential lover, George, whom he has only known for 10 days but still regards as the love of his life.
Thankfully, the visual palette is very rich. Ainouz captures the beauty of his Spanish landscapes, all those verdant forests and rolling hills. Matthew Herbert’s majestic musical score has a lulling effect, distracting us from the story’s miasmatic themes. Some of the set-pieces work well. Among the best observed is one where Martha turns up for a meal with the family and they all take turns to appraise her. The father’s extreme misogyny, Anna’s hostility toward her, and the toe-curling social awkwardness of the occasion are all portrayed with a wit and observation worthy of Edward Albee.
Turner’s performance anchors the film. His character has traces of Patricia Highsmith’s Tom Ripley, but he plays him with an engaging understatement. Whatever indignities he endures or murderous schemes he cooks up, he remains the same likably mischievous presence. In a film full of extreme grotesquerie, he lends the storytelling at least a hint of humanity.
Dir: Karim Ainouz. Starring: Callum Turner, Riley Keough, Jamie Bell, Lukas Gage, Elena Anaya, Tracy Letts, Elle Fanning, Pamela Anderson. 97 mins
‘Rosebush Pruning’ will be released in UK and Ireland cinemas later this year
