Diane deceives fellow employee/boss Karen of the French firm VolfGroup for her vital position in an upcoming deal. Diane takes charge after an incident to Karen, but secretly she's working for another company who's interested in the deal involving the Japanese corporation TokyoAnime. Things take a turn for the worse for Diane, when they meet the American distributors of demonlover.com and they unearth a little unknown and hard to access underground torture/bondage/rape Website they promote. Diane thinks she's in complete control of the situation, but there's more going on behind the scenes than she really knows.

The idea behind this French industrial techno-thriller is confounding, odd and grim, but its over-stylised direction and shady plot with disconnected characters can spoil much of the lasting impact. Again in this age why does the camera-work have to be so frenetic and strident during the fast-moving action set pieces. So you have trouble of making out just what is happening. Even the incoherent plot is a complete muddle of ideas and notions, and probably over-long. However it's always engrossing and the constantly knotty developments that populate the story can create an unsteady intensity. The focus on corporation influence and character pitfalls is premeditatedly cold, as we get pulled in to a loop of shadowy vagueness and desensitised feelings of a society feeding off the darker side of corruption for its kicks. It's one complicated web, populated with a rich load of dialogue, but it could've used a little more depth on its interesting subject. The set-up kind of reminded me of David Cronenberg's superior "Videodrome (1982)". What impressed me most was the pulsating music score by Sonic Youth. Their sterile, dark and incredibly moody instrumental cues interwoven with jaunty sound effects crafted out an effectively brooding and impulsive atmosphere. The technical side of the production is professionally glossed up, but the subject deserved a little more rawness to it. Anyhow the polished nature captures some beautiful, but also dark and jarring images where the icy blue and sleepy locations are framed by some sparsely haunting camera-work. The neon and stark lighting is also an added plus. Olivier Assayas' direction is far more surefooted and visually slick, compared to his loose and splintered writing. The performances are modest, if kinda dry and unemotional. Connie Nelson looks gorgeous, and excels in the effortless part as the calculated, but really vulnerable Diane, who finds out she can't escape what she has dug herself into. The ace Charles Berling is superbly shifty in his role. Chloe Sevigny is suitably fine and the savvy Gina Gershon was a delight to watch.

Feels depressingly empty, but this busy (maybe too so?) and stylish espionage story has its moments.