Choreographed to the jet-lagged jangle of Sonic Youth's guitar work, Demonlover uncovers the human misery behind cold commerce, and the harrowing reality beyond male fantasy.

At once illness and antidote, wound and knife, chilling and fascinating-in short, demonic and loving-demonlover is a beautiful and disturbing contemporary filmic object, concentrating within itself most of Assayas's obsessions

Rather than deepening the mystery and sense of intoxication, the picture soon becomes one prolonged and very bad hangover.

From the first voyeuristic peak into the ruthless world to the haunting, accusatory, unforgettable final image, it’s a brilliant, stunning piece of work, perhaps not his best, but certainly his most fearless and impassioned.