Touch Me Not

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Touch Me Not
Romanian film poster
Directed byAdina Pintilie
Written byAdina Pintilie
Produced by
  • Bianca Oana
  • Philippe Avril
  • Adina Pintilie
Starring
CinematographyGeorge Chiper-Lillemark
Edited byAdina Pintilie
Music byIvo Paunov
Production
companies
  • Manekino Film
  • 4 Proof Film
  • Agitprop
  • Les Films de l'Étranger
  • Pink Productions
  • Rohfilm
Distributed by
  • Alamode Film (Germany)
  • Pilot Film (Czech Republic)
  • Nour Films (France)
Release dates
  • 22 February 2018 (2018-02-22) (Berlin)
  • 31 October 2018 (2018-10-31) (France)
  • 1 November 2018 (2018-11-01) (Germany)
Running time
125 minutes
Countries
  • Romania
  • Germany[1]
    Czech Republic[2]
  • France
  • Bulgaria[3]
Languages
  • English
  • German
Budget€1 million[4]
Adina Pintilie

Touch Me Not (Romanian: Nu mă atinge) is a 2018 drama film written and directed by Adina Pintilie, starring Laura Benson, Tómas Lemarquis, and Dirk Lange. The film was screened in the main competition section at the 68th Berlin International Film Festival where it won the Golden Bear.[5][6][7] Touch Me Not is an experiment between fiction and documentary, and addresses the prejudices of people related to intimacy.[8]

Cast

Reception

According to a list by Screen International, the film received an average rating of 1,5 of four possible stars by film critics at the Berlinale and was thereby in the third-last place of all films in the Berlinale main competition.[9] It was seen as a controversial film, viewers left the cinema in rows.[10][11] The Golden Bear awarded by the Berlinale jury thus came as a surprise.

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 59% based on 41 reviews, and an average rating of 5.8/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Touch Me Not deserves admiration for its efforts to debunk stereotypes and further a necessary dialogue, even if the execution never lives up to those lofty ambitions."[12] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 68 out of 100, based on 5 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[13]

Deborah Young of The Hollywood Reporter praised the film, describing it as "an eye-opening look at human sexuality". She stated, "Though not every moment is fascinating to watch, most moments are, and adult audiences should find its frank presentation of the diversity of intimacy thought-provoking and possibly therapeutic."[14]

In a negative review, Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian called the film "embarrassingly awful", criticising "its mediocrity, its humourless self-regard, its fatuous and shallow approach to its ostensible theme of intimacy, and the clumsy way all this was sneakily elided with Euro-hardcore cliches about BDSM, alternative sexualities, fetishism and exhibitionism." He described the film's recognition at the Berlinale as a "calamity" for the festival.[15]

References

  1. ^ Weissberg, Jay (23 February 2018). "Berlin Film Review: 'Touch Me Not'". Variety. Retrieved 24 February 2018.
  2. ^ "Czech Films at the Berlinale 2018". Czech Film Center. 25 January 2018. Retrieved 24 February 2018.
  3. ^ Blaga, Iulia (17 August 2015). "PRODUCTION: Adina Pintilie Shoots International Coproduction Touch Me Not". Film New Europe Association. Retrieved 24 February 2018.
  4. ^ G. S. (25 February 2018). "Le Monde: Filmul "Nu ma atinge", o excursie in intimitate / El Pais: Acordarea Ursului de aur, o alegere discutabila / Ce mai spune presa internationala despre pelicula Adinei Pintilie". HotNews (in Romanian).
  5. ^ Clarke, Stewart (15 January 2018). "Berlin Film Festival Fleshes Out Competition Lineup". Variety. Retrieved 17 January 2018.
  6. ^ "Competition and Berlinale Special: Christian Petzold, Emily Atef, Lance Daly, Marcelo Martinessi, Cédric Kahn, Adina Pintilie, Markus Imhoof, Mani Haghighi, Måns Månsson and Axel Petersén, David and Nathan Zellner in the Competition programme / Raman Hui, Fernando Solanas, Paul Williams in the Berlinale Special". Berlin International Film Festival. 15 January 2018. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
  7. ^ Pulver, Andrew (25 February 2018). "Romanian film about fear of sexual intimacy wins Golden Bear at Berlin film festival". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
  8. ^ "Povestea din spatele filmului "Nu mă atinge-mă". Adina Pintilie: "Este o invitație la empatie"". Știrile Pro TV (in Romanian). 25 February 2018. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
  9. ^ Dalton, Ben: 'Isle Of Dogs' tops Screen's final Berlin Jury Grid; Golden Bear winner 'Touch Me Not' scores low. In: screendaily.com, 26 February 2018 (retrieved 8 March 2018).
  10. ^ "Zuschauer verlassen den Saal - Ist "Touch Me Not" zu versext?". 23 February 2018. (in German)
  11. ^ WELT (23 February 2018), ""Touch me not", Berlinale: Zu heftiger Sex-Szenen – Zuschauer verlassen Kinosaal", Die Welt (in German), retrieved 14 February 2021
  12. ^ "Touch Me Not (2018)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  13. ^ "Touch Me Not Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
  14. ^ Young, Deborah (22 February 2018). "'Touch Me Not': Film Review | Berlin 2018". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 1 March 2018.
  15. ^ Bradshaw, Peter (25 February 2018). "Berlin 2018: shallow, silly Golden Bear winner Touch Me Not is a calamity for the festival". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 February 2018.

External links