In Destination MotelKarim Aïnouz returns to Brazil with an erotic thriller mixing neon lights, sensuality and the warmth of the Northeast. Presented at Cannes, the film explores desire, social hypocrisy and the celebration of life in a complex context.
Under the neon lights, in the sensuality of the bodies and the heat of the Brazilian Northeast, Karim Aïnouz returns to film in his country of origin with Destination Motelan erotic thriller celebrating life, hits theaters Wednesday.
Presented at the last Cannes Film Festival, this feature film depicts a love triangle in a dilapidated motel near the ocean, against a backdrop of sex and delinquency, in a slightly surreal atmosphere.
The motel “is a typically Brazilian place, where anything can happen, but within four walls,” explains the 58-year-old filmmaker on the Croisette. “When it becomes public, it speaks of a society which calls itself free and happy, but which remains profoundly hypocritical and contradictory. The motel is a sort of x-ray of Brazil where we hear what the other is doing.”
For Karim Aïnouz, who had not filmed in his native country for five years, it was above all a question of “getting closer to the public” with “a thriller that keeps them glued to the screen”, a particularly “crucial” need after a pandemic, a period during which cinema lost a lot of its place.”
“I also wanted to make a film that speaks of desire, the unconscious, passion and a certain explosion of life,” he confides. “It was essential for me after these years spent under an authoritarian regime in Brazil (under Jair Bolsonaro between 2019 and 2022), a terrifying regime where the main obsession was death. I wanted to create a film where people would celebrate life .”
The numerous scenes of physical proximity were produced under the supervision of an intimacy coordinator, a profession increasingly common in cinema, particularly in Hollywood, to guarantee respect for the actors.
“It was great to work with an intimacy coordinator,” says the director of Queen's Game (2023). “The choreography of these scenes and the respect for intimacy are two sides of the same coin.”
“It is crucial to address these topics,” he adds. “For decades, cinema has been marked by abusive relationships and power imbalances. We must carry out an historic act of reparation. Sexual abuse in the industry did not arise by chance.”
With AFP
