She Is Conann

Frank Franzetta meets Federico Fellini in a magic mushroom-eating contest in ultra-auteur Bertrand Mandico’s bizarre French masterpiece She Is Conann. Deep in the netherworld, a hellhound named Rainer (Elina Lowensohn) takes photos of the damned while the bat-winged queen of the barbarians, Conann (Francoise Brion), oversees the kingdom of the dead, from a high throne.

Rainer relates the tale of Conann to some poor soul, starting in ancient times with her mother being slain by the vicious warrior leader Sanja (Julia Riedler). Taken captive, the 15-year-old Conan (Claire Duburcq) toils away on the ball of pain while being assaulted throughout the night by warrior women. She meets Rainer for the first time, who informs her that her dreams of revenge are all part of a prophecy. Conann reaches out to her future 25-year-old self (Christa Theret) to fulfill her destiny, allowing her to age ten years instantly.

“…the 15-year-old Conan toils away on the ball of pain while being assaulted throughout the night by warrior women.”

She chases a twisted path of vengeance, with Rainer running behind her, tail wagging and snapping his camera. The path leads into the future with the 35-year-old Conann (Sandra Parfait) trapped in Detroit in the year 1998 with no memory of who she was. Rainer is going to need to work overtime to get her memory freed in time for the 45-year-old Conann (Agata Buzek) to start her reign as a ruler in Hell…

She Is Conann shatters the limits of cinematic imagination. Wave after wave of surreal images hit your eyeline like a sword through a skull. Black and white is used throughout much of the movie until it suddenly blasts in and out of color. It is also mainly in French until it suddenly switches to English. These language and color flips are seemingly random, and it is revealed they are tied to movements in the narrative, like stepping in and out of Oz. Everything is bathed in constant glittering snow, which looks stunning whatever color it is.