The Neon Demon, the acclaimed and hated new film by Danish filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive, Only God Forgives) is a cinematic work that perplexes but, at the same time, seduces the viewer with wonderful psychedelic neon colors and a transporting electronic soundtrack by Cliff Martinez. The film seems to hosannaze, in a deviant way, beauty for its own sake, a subject that finds greater foment in the realm of fashion.
Not unnoticed are the five equilateral triangles towering over the poster (and also in the film), which in symbolism indicate (depending on the position of the vertex) divine harmony and perfection (top tip) or earthly (bottom tip). After all, that is what the protagonist Jesse, played masterfully by Elle Fanning, embodies-that is, perfection. Her natural beauty, here almost otherworldly but also devilish, seduces and fascinates anyone who looks at her to the point of arousing the envy of those who yearn for perfection by resorting to plastic surgery.
The Neon Demon sifts through the female universe in an almost manic way emphasizing its aesthetic pleasures but also its risks. After all, Jesse is a small-town girl who moves to Los Angeles to work as a model. With no family or friends, she is seduced by the world of fashion, to which she will become addicted, only to become both victim and perpetrator. Determined to ride the impending wave of success, the 16-year-old will undergo a sudden change when she becomes aware of her abilities.
In The Neon Demon there is no room for love and true values in life: only exteriority and materialism count. As a result, the protagonist's female colleagues, in the shadow of her beauty, appear as empty shells, to be replaced punctually the moment fresh and better "goods" present themselves.
The concept of beauty, linked to physicality and not the soul, also extends to death with an unexpected lesbian scene of necrophilia and with photos capturing Jesse lifeless on the couch during the photo shoot with his friend. In Refn's film moreover, the desire for perfection that drives one to mimic one's idol leads to cannibalism: assimilating the beautiful to be so.
Surreal and dazzling The Neon Demon is certainly a powerful film, impeccable in direction and style and offering insight into beauty, extended to multiple realms. The second half of the film loses some of its tone but recovers in a disorienting and metaphorical ending.
The screenplay is by Nicolas Winding Refn, Polly Stenham and Mary Laws.
The cast includes, in addition to Elle Fanning (Maleficent), Jena Malone, Alessandro Nivola, Keanu Reeves, Desmond Harrington, Karl Glusman, Bella Heathcote (Dark Shadows), Abbey Lee, and Christina Hendricks.
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The Neon Demon is available in a Steelbook Ultralimited double-disc Blu-Ray edition and with a limited collector's edition DVD and Blu-ray, thanks to Midnight Factory (link to article).
The limited DVD edition features highly polished packaging with hardback slipcase.
There is no shortage of editorial support and rich extra content.
The booklet contains trivia about the film (dedicated to the obsession with beauty), "the motives behind Neon Demon," and the mechanisms behind a horror film, according to Refn.
Technical data LIMITED EDITION DVD:
- Duration: 114'
- Format: 16/9
- Aspect Ratio: 2:35:1 Anamorphic
- Audio: Italian 5.1 Dolby Digital, English 5.1 DTS, English 5.1 Dolby Digital
- Subtitles: Italian
- Extra: Storytellers - The Nicolas Winding Refn Scandal (21′)
- Interview with Nicolas Winding Refn (The Beauty of the Devil - Conversation with Nicolas Winding Refn) (34′)
- Photogalley (2′)
- Audio Commentary Nicolas Winding Refn and Elle Fanning
- Disc: DVD9
