One Night Stand (Pour Une Nuit)

Not having been fortunate enough to grow up with New Wave French cinema (which all at once confronted/confused/enlightened/enraged mainstream audiences) we can only imagine that it felt something like watching Pour Une Nuit. There's no attempt to make it sexy — that would be like so bouregoise, dude. Jouvet, like Goddard before her, dares to capture lightning in a bottle. Sometimes the resulting brew is headier than champagne. On the other hand, too much of it will make you nauseous.

One Night Stand peels the cover off Sapphic sexuality. Most encounters feature goth/punk/pierced/butch participants who are meeting and fucking for the first time. Jouvet's camera gives the finger to traditional focus and handheld technique, opting for a low-light guerilla style which results in a product we might call anti-lipstick lesbianism. It sure isn't pretty, nor is it 100% explicit as some viewers demand. But for the right audience, it'll leave a major puddle on the floor.