Honoré’s scandalous, notorious second feature (“uncommercial in the extreme,” sniffed Variety) returns in a new, 20th anniversary restoration. Somewhere in the Canary Islands, promiscuous mother Hélène (the ever-impressive Isabelle Huppert), cool and in charge, and her pious Catholic teenaged son Pierre (Louis Garrel, fresh off The Dreamers), just back from boarding school, discuss his father’s infidelity. But when the family patriarch dies in a car crash, Hélène launches into a wild series of parties, gradually involving her son in her drugging, drinking and sex-fueled nights out.
“Fascinating and erotic—if also difficult and disturbing—Honoré's ambitious adaptation of Georges Bataille's novel prevails because of the frank treatment of its serious subject matter.” – Out Magazine’