Writer/director Bertrand Mandico’s French art film The Wild Boys captivated audiences in 2017 with its bold vision and unique voice. The visually stunning homoerotic fantasy adventure was like Lord of the Flies on acid — a psychadelic exploration of gender and authority that, simply put, defied all traditional expectations. Now, in 2022, Mandico makes his return to directing in the even more ambitious After Blue (Dirty Paradise), and it’s every bit as weird as its predecessor in the best way possible.
In the future, humanity has abandoned Earth and resides on a planet in a distant galaxy where only females are able to survive. Roxy (Paula Luna) is a teenager who sets free a notorious killer named Kate Bush (Agata Buzek) after being seduced by her charm, and her colony is not too pleased about it. They decide to cast out not only her, but her hairdresser mother Zora (Elina Löwensohn) as well. In a desperate attempt to regain the good graces of the colony, the mother-daughter duo decide to bounty hunt Kate Bush and are faced with a journey colorful with strange characters and exotic landscapes.
While film has a distinctly western spirit about it, the world of After Blue is everything but what people would associate with that genre. Zora and Roxy are bounty hunters who don cowboy hats, ride horses, and shoot guns, but there is a constant glamor about the film that is all its own. Their guns are even referred to by designer names like Gucci as if they were talking about stylish handbags. Balancing out this glamor is a grotesquery that adds an uneasiness to the film’s visual allure. For instance, Kate Bush has a traditionally beautiful female form, but one arm that is covered in hair with claws like a werewolf, while her pubic area has a third eye.
Amplifying both the beauty and horror prevalent in After Blue is the tactile quality every shot of this film embodies. All of the landscapes and creatures the protagonists encounter have a texture about them that is instantly “felt” with the eyes, and it enhances the sheer sensuality of the film. Mandico does not shy away from sexual femininity here: fully nude women are commonplace in this world, as is casual lesbianism. Coating their naked bodies, landscapes, and virtually everything else is a touch of glitter that further brings home this essence of tactility.
While the plot is never deep and oftentimes nonexistent, every frame of After Blue’s is a feast for the eyes, which more than makes up for it. Shots drenched in ultra-saturated colors combined with the brilliantly inspired set design of the film give it the essence of a late 70s/80s sci-fi or fantasy film. There are even moments that feel like a Frank Frazetta painting come to life, and they’re glorious. Mandico has a knack for creating films that embody a dream-like quality, and the offbeat beauty of this alien world is a dream so enrapturing that it’s hard not to entirely succumb to it.
After Blue never wants to define or pigeonhole itself, and that’s perfectly alright. This trippy, epic, post-apocalyptic sci-fi fantasy western will have a place all its own in the eyes of filmgoers. While it’s a bit longer than needed with pacing that doesn’t help matters, most art film lovers will easily forgive its transgressions and happily surrender themselves to this bizarre, hypersexual assault on the senses.
—Andrea Riley
