Adina Pintilie
Romania, Germany, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, France | 2018 | 125 min
International Premiere
Languages : English, German
Subtitles : English, French
“Tell me how you loved me, so I understand how to love.” The (in)ability to touch and be touched is profoundly influenced by –and related to– one’s own history and family past. Touch Me Not aims to explore intimacy and sexuality, love for oneself and the others through singular experiences, in a film existing on the fluid border between reality and fiction. An artistic research that is defined and developed in what seems like the most respectful and empathic relation between Adina Pintille and her characters. Some are actors, some are not. We do not need to know whether they actually play a role or themselves, and can definitely assume that they all, to a certain extent, deeply understand what they have to deal with. Certainly a disturbing film, Touch Me Not is challenging in the most fertile way one can imagine, in that it subtly leads the viewer, once embarked on this journey, to slowly reshape their gaze and welcome new potentials. Just as for the protagonists, it is perhaps about overcoming old patterns and freeing oneself, no matter for how long.
Emilie Bujès