Film

Following the critical triumph of Beau Travail two years earlier, Claire Denis shocked Cannes audiences with the premiere of this gory, outré film that graphically depicts carnal lust as a cannibalistic disease. Named after a Frank Zappa song, the film follows two American newlyweds (Vincent Gallo and Tricia Vessey) on their honeymoon to Paris where the groom begins a search for the root of his murderous affliction. Featuring impressionistic cinematography by acclaimed DP Agnès Godard and music by British chamber pop band Tindersticks (both frequent Denis collaborators), this elliptical and polarizing film maudit is a heady and haunting exploration of desire taken to its disturbing extreme. Trouble Every Day ranked among the top 100 films in Film Comment’s end of the decade critics’ poll and is ripe for reappraisal as Denis’ latest work, Bastards, premieres at the 51st New York Film Festival.