Queer films and filmmaking need to be applauded, especially given how difficult it is to even get a film made in the first place. That said, filmmaker Bertrand Mandico (After Blue) is really not my cup of tea. While he makes visually enticing films, they are often strictly running on vibes over any true narrative. For the right subset of moviegoers, that could be a major plus, especially in an era where so many films are zapped of their color. Visually speaking, his latest, Roma elastica, does look gorgeous. The first fifteen minutes or so pull you in, and appear to promise at least a farcical distraction. Only marginally watchable for the stunning visuals and a committed performance from Marion Cotillard, nonsensical Roma elastica is a hot mess of clashing tones that beats you over the head again and again with its endless metaphor.
Set in 1982, acclaimed actress Eddie (Cotillard) has a seriously special once in a lifetime talent. She’s the type of actress who can shut a set down in just a single take. By her side is her faithful makeup artist/bodyguard/sort-of love interest, Valentina (Noemie Merlant). After being diagnosed with cancer, Eddie still decides to take a new job filming in Rome. From the onset, Roma elastica plunges us into Eddie’s perspective. A plane ride overture results in the film’s most hilarious sequence, wherein Valentina shares a story about having to hide a turd inside her handbag. It’s a preposterously silly set up, made even more ridiculous by the countless statues and pieces of statue sitting in airplane seats. Valentina and Eddie’s inseparable nature is established in these early scenes.
That only serves to make what follows that much more disappointing. The bond between the two women feels completely wasted and unrealized. Neither actress does a bad job with the material they are given; rather, there just doesn’t seem to be much of an actual plot to speak of. In trying to make sense of what I was watching, I became even more bafflingly confused. Multiple people at my screening fell asleep, and even talked about it afterward. While many things that happen in this film could make for a good think-piece, that doesn’t necessarily make for an entertaining or even enjoyable feature. I loved this year’s Her Private Hell, and even Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, both of which contain metaphors and loose straightforward plotting. I was hoping Roma elastica would fall more in one of those camps rather than feel like a pretentious clump of statue rubble.
At one point, a character calls the film they are making a “neurotic cannibal sword and sandals flick.” The movie within the movie is so strange, and utterly nonsensical. I couldn’t imagine anyone actually engaging with it. What would’ve made Eddie sign onto the project in the first place? In trying to dissect anything from surface level, it becomes even clearer that the filmmaker intended endless meanings to be interpreted. Running hand-in-hand with Eddie’s diagnosis, how much of what we are watching is supposed to be real? Does she actually have some kind of weird orgy with an effects crew and their creepy tentacle prop? What was with all the goopy imagery?
Screening this film for the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival absolutely feels like a total misstep. Despite being billed as such, there’s barely a droplet of blood to be found within this “horror” movie. The French sensibility lends it a unique quality, but that still doesn’t exactly translate into easily palatable material. Also, showing it so late into the night (my showing ended after 1:30am) feels like a set up for its strange, surrealist vision to fail. There’s simultaneously too much going on and not enough happening at the same time. Even with all the issues, the cinematography is stunning, and the costumes are gloriously campy. Marion Cotillard is also quite mesmerizing, leaning into the wild nature of her character. That said, I have no desire to ever watch Roma elastica again. There’s an audience out there for this brand of bizarre psycho-sexual surreal drama. That audience is not me.
Roma elastica screened at 2026’s Brooklyn Horror Film Festival.
