Whenever I see Guillaume Cramoisan's name on the list of actors for a film or series, I know better than to sit through whatever it is. His usual bland "acting" is not reinforced by the spoiled-brat character he plays in this film, with the obligatory 3-day beard and expensively "sloppy" clothes. Once again, Cramoisan is playing the same petulant, delayed adolescent character that is all he knows how to portray.
Sylvain and his wife Marylin return to her family home in the mountains for her brother's funeral. The unloved daughter/sister/aunt of harsh working people who was shuffled off to boarding school at twelve--is it any surprise that her first husband Eric beat her and traumatised her? The homecoming is less than welcoming, and Marylin becomes convinced that her late husband is out there somewhere, watching her every move--while Hubby Number Two and her dysfunctional relatives treat her like she is definitely losing it. Fonfon, her childhood friend, knows something-- but since he's a mute, he won't tell her anything. What is going on here? Anything? And are you willing to sit through it long enough to find out?
The ingredients might make for a good suspense film in the best French noir tradition, if it weren't for the fact that the director tries much too hard to telegraph "this is a scary movie, this is a scary movie".The French television viewer's guide was +10, meaning children ten years and up. Nothing to fear here except perhaps dying of terminal boredom. The film is poorly put together in a patchwork of flashbacks, distorted camera work, repeated "faints" whenever Marylou gets to the top of a staircase, and rabbity acting on the part of all characters. The best performance was put in by the mute! An hour into the film, the story was just getting started. The person who watched it with me agreed that far from generating suspense or anxiety, what we felt was mostly impatience for it to end.
Sylvain and his wife Marylin return to her family home in the mountains for her brother's funeral. The unloved daughter/sister/aunt of harsh working people who was shuffled off to boarding school at twelve--is it any surprise that her first husband Eric beat her and traumatised her? The homecoming is less than welcoming, and Marylin becomes convinced that her late husband is out there somewhere, watching her every move--while Hubby Number Two and her dysfunctional relatives treat her like she is definitely losing it. Fonfon, her childhood friend, knows something-- but since he's a mute, he won't tell her anything. What is going on here? Anything? And are you willing to sit through it long enough to find out?
The ingredients might make for a good suspense film in the best French noir tradition, if it weren't for the fact that the director tries much too hard to telegraph "this is a scary movie, this is a scary movie".The French television viewer's guide was +10, meaning children ten years and up. Nothing to fear here except perhaps dying of terminal boredom. The film is poorly put together in a patchwork of flashbacks, distorted camera work, repeated "faints" whenever Marylou gets to the top of a staircase, and rabbity acting on the part of all characters. The best performance was put in by the mute! An hour into the film, the story was just getting started. The person who watched it with me agreed that far from generating suspense or anxiety, what we felt was mostly impatience for it to end.