How much for just the body?

tieman64

"I've noticed how sharply the word money resembles the word violence." – Antjie Krog

An underrated erotic drama by director Wayne Wang, "The Centre of the World" stars Peter Sarsgaard as Richard, a dot-com millionaire who runs into Florence (Molly Parker), an attractive drummer/stripper.

"The Centre of the World" initially seems to be indulging in familiar prince-meets-hooker clichés (eg "Pretty Woman"). Wang, though, has other things on his mind. In his hands, both Richard and Florence are alienated by their professions. He hides behind modems and monitors, rarely meeting people face to face, she has strict "no touch" policies. Both prefer to remain at a professional distance, creating avatars or fabricated facades when dealing with others. Significantly, Richard believes "machines" to be the "center of the world", the computer coder believing in a very masculinist, controlling view of people and relations. Florence believes the opposite: women (the feminine, the vagina) are for Florence the "center of the world", around which everything revolves. This assumption grants her, she believes, power over men. Control.

Power and control becomes the preoccupation of the film's second third. Here Richard hires Florence for a weekend. He will pay her ten thousand dollars to be his escort. Florence, perceiving herself to be submissive in this relationship, attempts to exert some power of her own. She lays down some rules: no touching, no kissing, no sex and the couple will only be together for a strict late-night window. Richard consents. He's just a passive guy, he tells her, genuinely loves her and has no wish to force her to do anything against his will. Florence doesn't believe him.

What constitutes "real" or "simulated" love/lust becomes the preoccupation of the film's final third. Like most films of this ilk, Richard misreads Florence's "performances" and "simulations" as "real affection"; she genuinely likes him, he thinks. Florence, of course, says she doesn't; it was just an act. Richard is left confused.

What's original about the film is this: Florence genuinely does love Richard, but will not allow herself to acknowledge or act upon this love. For Florence, the couple's relationship is inherently objectifying, demeaning and social relationships mediated by money, or economic relations themselves, are intrinsically violent. For Florence, Richard's just another boss. Another employer. And as long as he's paying, she's forced into submission and dependency.

Scientists and philosophers have spoken for millenia about power-empathy gaps and the dehumanisation engendered by economic relations. But Richard does not see himself in this light. He is a "nice guy" and genuinely wants to "give generously, out of love" (or genuinely believes he does). When Florence rejects him, Richard then vengefully becomes a caricature of what Florenence perceives him to be. He turns her over and violently has sex (rapes?) with her. Ironically, this merely affirms Florence's own prejudices (correct assumptions?).

"The Centre of the World" ends with two symbolic scenes. In the first, Florence masturbates before Richard, and explains that "this is what genuine love is". For Florenece, the act is honest and not tainted by the conscious or unconscious power games or depersonalising desires of others. The film then cuts to a strip-club, in which Florence and Richard meet once again. Brilliantly, Wang has each character now fully embrace their "customer"/"provider", "master"/"whore" roles. Richard pays, Florence dances, end of story. Their transaction is impersonal, cold and each now perceives themselves as being in control. Unlike the rest of the film, which is shot in raw, intimate digital photography, these sequences are shot on dreamy celluloid, amplifying the couple's now-explicitly acknowledged games of fantasy.

Most of the big auteurs had key films "about" prostitutes/prostitution (Godards's "Vivre Sa Ve", Passolini's "Accatone" and "Salo", Bunuel's "Belle de Jour", Kubrick's "Eyes Wide Shut", Kiarostami's "Like Someone in Love" etc). Wang's "The Center of the World" is smaller, like a stage-play, but unfolds with the grimy, sexy ambiance of a Abel Ferrara movie ("Go Go Tales"). Sarsgaard and Parker are excellent in their roles.

8.9/10 – See Antonioni's "Beyond the Clouds".

score /10

tieman64 26 August 2014

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw3075864/