Pitof brings a digital effects specialist's appetite for striking images to his fantasy films. In Catwoman, that appetite overwhelms the actors, and we find a director too impatient to let either the comedy or the heroine develop.
Fi1m perspective
Catwoman (2004) barely lets its heroine settle before making everything around her move again. Halle Berry supplies warmth, but Pitof's restless direction gives us too little time to enjoy it. The timid woman's discovery of power ought to support the romance and comedy as well as the action. It is a poor superhero film because it has so little interest in the woman undergoing the change.
His background helps explain that preference. Before directing features, he worked in visual effects and collaborated with Jean-Pierre Jeunet as a supervisor and second unit director. His debut, Vidocq (2001), was the first major film shot entirely in high-definition digital video. That was a substantial technical step, and it is worth remembering when Catwoman, his Hollywood debut, threatens to become the whole discussion of his work.
Yet Catwoman shows how poorly that expertise can serve a performance. We found it tiring because Pitof kept interrupting the actors with another burst of visual activity. Camp needs a pause in which an absurd line or gesture can register; here, the digital action keeps demanding attention instead. Berry's warmth is the virtue we can hold on to, and the film might have done better to leave her alone for a while.
The script deserves its share of the blame. There is nothing inherently unworkable about a cosmetics conspiracy, but the heroine's new confidence gives her surprisingly little to do. The romance and comedy are too weakly developed to give the action a rest. At 104 minutes, it feels longer than its story can sustain.
The later television feature Fire and Ice: The Dragon Chronicles (2008), directed under the name Jean C. Comar, continued his work in effects-driven fantasy. Producing and VR content followed. We would not use Catwoman to dismiss his work in every format. Begin with Vidocq if the technical experiments interest you; do not expect Berry to make Catwoman worth the evening.
Biography
Pitof, born Jean-Christophe Comar on 4 July 1957 in Paris, is a French director and visual effects supervisor. He began his career in 1976 as an assistant director, photographer and editor on films, commercials and music videos, later moving into graphic design, software development and digital imaging.
He co-founded the post-production company Duran Duboi and worked as a visual effects supervisor on films including Alien: Resurrection (1997). Pitof made his feature directorial debut with Vidocq (2001), the first major film shot entirely in high definition, and directed Catwoman (2004) starring Halle Berry. He also directed the television film Fire and Ice: The Dragon Chronicles (2008).
Pitof received the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres in 1995 and various awards for visual effects and his work on Vidocq.
