I'm just back from seeing Belle Epoque, and think it could well fit
into this category.  On which end of the polarity, I don't know.  It
seems to be a light, entertaining celebration of guilt-free carnality,
but it has so many unsettling elements that I thought it was trying to
show that what was being celebrated was a fool's paradise.  It takes
place at the beginning of the short-lived Republic in Spain, so I feel
mildly confident about this initial reading.  Who else has seen this,
and how do you account for some of the darker elements, and the
solitude that is displayed at the end?          Stephen Brophy