Highly Strung

There's a certain type of film that the French do so incredibly well that when those non-Gallic countries try to ape their style and panache they always end up falling upon their derrière.

The film's title, Highly Strung (a poor translation of the original Je Te Mangerais, or literally "You Will Be Mine"), is perhaps the weakest part of the entire venture, barely accepting the desperation or directness of the film-maker's original intent as this tale of blossoming love between two female students which falls foul of both society's mores and their peers disgust unfolds.

Country-girl Marie (Judith Davis) is thrown into the high society of Lyon to study piano and shares an apartment with childhood friend and worldly-wise Emma (Isild Le Besco), a medical student. The early scenes of domestic life balanced with constant study and metronomic accuracy in scales and arpeggios seems a little brisk, but aptly shows the distance between Radiohead-loving Emma and the naiveté of Marie. There's a palpable comparison to Argento's Suspiria as an innocent young girl begins to gain a sexual understanding of the danger of life around her through art and as the girls begin to share more than just the rent.

There are some slightly pat moments as the girls do their nails together whilst discussing boys to a slightly maudlin soundtrack and the change from lover to stalker is very quick. However, there is undoubted chemistry between the two girls as overtly sexual scenes are played out with little to no prurient nudity on show. A rather unsatisfying ending keeps it from being highly recommended, but as an art-house take on Single White Female it certainly has a charged eroticism lacking in such bunny-boiler variants.



Released on DVD on 29th March 2010 by Peccadillo Pictures.

Written by Simon Cole.