‘Piaffe’ Review: Fetishes And Unruly Bodies Meet In New Equine Arthouse Horror
Mary Beth McAndrews
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To say that Piaffe is a movie about a horny horse girl who loves getting choked with her own tail that she spontaneously started to grow is technically true. But as the initial shock factor of the synopsis wears away, what’s left is visual artist and director Ann Oren‘s fascinating examination of sexuality and learning to embrace (both literally and figuratively) your true self. Told more through vibes than through traditional narrative, Oren creates a very queer and very surreal experience that will leave arthouse horror lovers full and satisfied.
Eva (Simone Bucio) is a nervous young woman who’s stumbled into working as a foley artist. You see, her sister Zara (Simon [e] Jaikiriuma Paetau) was the original foley artist, but she suffered a nervous breakdown. So the unqualified Eva steps in, instructed to create the sounds of a galloping horse for an anti-depressant commercial. But she’s just not getting it, according to the director sporting a platinum blonde bowl cut, who takes his job absurdly seriously. She’s not seeing the animal inside the horse. Thus begins Eva’s surreal equine journey as she tries to grasp what makes a horse through manmade sound.
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Before a tail even appears, the world of Piaffe is a strange, off-kilter portrayal of our reality, shot in a beautiful 16mm. Oren creates an increasingly uncanny world as we see Eva trying to navigate her own changing body and blossoming sexuality. The more research she does, the more Eva finds a sensuality inside herself, which manifests as a horse tail that begins to grow out of her tailbone. The deeper she digs into the primal nature of the horse, the more she digs into her own primal nature, finding a version of herself that’s free and unencumbered by anxieties.
Oren creates a world of textures and touch that is strangely alluring. Every touch has a meaning and every lingering stare is charged. The film pulsates with sensuality that culminates not in penetrative sex, but through touch. Eva is choked not with a hand but with her own tail as she taps her feet as if she were a galloping horse. A rose with a thorny stem is eased down her throat. These acts of BDSM are shown not as spectacle, but as crucial moments for Eva where she learns to trust and let go of her body. She is transformed through these moments of sensuality.
Bucio is incredible as Eva, the most anxious woman on the planet. Everything about her existence is defined by fear, and Bucio really makes you feel for her. This makes her transformation all the more sweet as Bucio embodies a woman finally understanding herself and shedding her shame. If Bucio looks familiar, it’s because she also starred in the erotic Mexican horror film The Untamed where she fornicates with an otherwordly being. Suffice it to say, Bucio knows how to embody a character’s unconventional sexual awakening better than most.
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Importantly, much of Piaffe isn’t told through dialogue, but rather through movement, whether Eva is just working in the recording studio or she’s in a club, dancing to pounding techno. The camera lingers on Eva’s serious face as she gnaws at chains to become the horse or when she’s about to orgasm. Piaffe is textural, soft, coarse, and sweaty; Oren wants us to feel this movie more than understand it, to have it stir something strange in our bellies.
Sure, you may have gotten through this review and still think, “This is just a movie about a horny horse girl.” And again, you’re not wrong. But if you’re willing to give into Oren’s vibe and just let it all wash over you, Piaffe is a bizarre and visually stunning experience about a woman’s journey into embracing her body rather than fearing it. And what a strange journey it is.
Summary
Piaffe is a bizarre and visually stunning experience about a woman’s journey into embracing her body rather than fearing it
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