Arrow Academy, out now

Competition corporations are fighting to attain the rights to 3D manga material, unaware that the origins of the extreme material are far more sinister than you’d imagine.

Olivier Assayas’ 2002 horror thriller is something of a slog, there being a good 90 minute movie among the bloated two hour running time. Connie Nielsen (Wonder Woman) and Gina Gershon (Bound) are always good value when on screen, playing industrial espionage on opposing teams, but the main thrust of the movie is a form of extreme porn, hosted at The Hellfire Club, where women are tortured for real.

Back in 2002 this may have served as a cautionary tale, warning how the normalisation of porn can make subscribers blind to real suffering going on, in this case it’s women dressed up as viewers’ favourite fantasy heroines and then chained to a bed and tortured. But the concept of a snuff movie is nothing new, and inevitably the poor saps here are drawn in to the murky underworld, unaware that they’re in too deep before they can do anything about it. It also loses its way in the final act, its grip on narrative going out of the window.

It’s like an extended, arthouse episode of Black Mirror, but without the focus. It’s a fairly distasteful watch, but presumably that’s the effect we’re meant to feel as rational viewers. Arrow’s release is packed with additional features, starting with a commentary by writer/director Olivier Assayas, a visual essay written and narrated by critic Jonathan Romney, an hour-long behind-the-scenes documentary, archival interviews with the talent, and a documentary about the recording of the score by Sonic Youth.

Verdict: An excellent package for fans of extreme French cinema, it’s an unpleasant film about unpleasant people, and its basic message seems to be that we’re all doomed. 7/10

Nick Joy