hairdressers husband

THE HAIRDRESSER’S HUSBAND: Certain films require you to use an entirely different portion of your brain. So it’s understandable that director Patrice Leconte’s story of one man’s sensual obsession with female hairstylists can often feel like driving on the left side of the road or writing with the wrong hand. Quirky enough to induce a few giggles, artsy enough to make you think , The Hairdresser’s Husband dodges easy categorization, unfolding like a Gaussian daydream; part memory, part fantasy. Antoine’s (Jean Rochefort) erotic fetish pops up early in his youth and is rekindled when he meets Mathilde (Anna Galiena), who agrees on a whim to marry him. Reserving himself a seat to observe every customer, Antoine blissfully spends his days basking in the glow of his wife’s chosen profession. But is their all-consuming need for another enough to keep the relationship alive forever? Leconte’s film is “erotic” in the best sense of the word; one inch to the left or right and Antoine’s obsessions would become perverted. Instead, the audience is complicit in the secret pleasure he takes at every shampoo and monthly trim. Through his eyes, Mathilde is a goddess to be worshipped, her every movement a slow-motion ballet that ignites the senses. Much in the same way Leconte’s film sparks cinematic sensations rarely experienced on the screen anymore. Released through Severin Films, better known for low-brow erotica, the DVD includes one part of a profile on director Patrice Leconte and an interview with star Anna Galiena.