Let’s Talk About SEX!
S is for substantial – no porn
E is for experimental, explorative and hopefully entertaining
X is for [insert sexual fantasy or taboo]
Let’s Talk About Sex: The Dark Valley
The beginning of this 2014 Austrian genre-mix is reminiscent of Inglorious Basterds; two horrified people are crouching beneath a wooden floor in an old house, their faces are filled with fear, their limbs trembling. Then, something terrible happens.
It’s hard to talk about The Dark Valley without spoiling things and since the internet has basically issued a death punishment for this, I will try to refrain from sharing important plot details with you. Still, it’s worth the effort to mention this film because this is one that will probably be forgotten by time and space otherwise. But you’re probably wondering what the word genre-mix refers to here so let me enlighten you: there is a very odd genre in German speaking countries called ‘Heimatfilm’. It pretty much means a rather kitschy, over-romanticized film set in rural Germany/Austria/Switzerland – most often some picturesque place in the Alps.
The Dark Valley is indeed set in a place like this and the people speak a tongue that is hard to understand even for me. It is also, however: a western. There is little dialogue, and if there are words, they are grave and quiet. The atmosphere is somber and depressing, the coldness of the Bavarian winter seems to seep out of the frames. And there is blood, so much blood.
A dark secret is kept in the quiet village that isn’t named, a village where Lutzi (Paula Beer) lives alone with her mother. She just got engaged to her first love when a stranger called Greider (Sam Riley!) arrives to stay in the town for the winter. Greider is an American photographer with German roots who moves into a spare room with Lutzi and her mother. Slowly and quietly, he lets the facade of silence and secrecy that this town was built upon crumble and reveals a history of death and violence.
This film is a wonderful example of how a story can convince you that it’s going in some direction, just to take a completely different route. The mysterious mood about it turns almost erotic in the beginning, though you soon find out that sex isn’t a positive element of this story. Instead, it is a violent expression of power and the people that use it have set their minds to kill any positive or romantic perception of sex.
There is a central scene in The Dark Valley where the preacher wants to convince the people of the valley of the righteousness of their situation. He uses an example from the bible and turns it into a grotesque statement that bears resemblance to many similar misreadings of religious stories and texts. Yet it isn’t a belief in this statement that makes the characters in this film act as they do – it’s the fear of the people who are spreading it. And that is essential – for the understanding of this film as well as the understanding of similar conflicts around the world today. For as periodical as The Dark Valley may seem, being an homage to classic westerns, it chronicles a sexual crime that is still so scaringly relevant.