10 Hidden Meanings Behind Confusing Horror Movies
2. The Strange Colour of Your Body’s Tears
True to its name, 2013’s The Strange Color of Your Body’s Tears is extremely strange. Like In Fabric, its experimental approach conjures the 1970s works of Argento, as well as Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby, Żuławski’s Possession, and Lynch’s Lost Highway. In fact, it might be even more “artsy” and impenetrable.
Ostensibly, French filmmakers Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani tell the tale of a businessman (Dan) who returns home to learn that his wife is missing. Naturally, he checks with several neighbors (and the law) regarding her whereabouts, but to no avail. All the while, he gets wrapped up in shadowy circumstances involving sex, violence, and deception.
The Strange Color of Your Body’s Tears is anything but conventional. Basically, it sacrifices a linear narrative and distinct answers so that it can take viewers through a fever dream of frightening tones, looping segments, surreal visuals, unsynchronized framerates, nightmarish audio, and puzzle-esque shot compositions.
With multiple watches, however, the film’s obscure collage of sights, sounds, and actions yield a stimulating depiction of betrayal, mistrust, loneliness, and obsession. Ultimately, the filmmakers prompt viewers to ask themselves what they’d do if they were in Dan’s shoes, and the answers are as rewarding as they are unsettling.