After having seen Wozzeck, Elektra and Iphiginia, all of which are depressing films, I have to say this was the most shattering of all.
Possible Spoilers I think the tapes were the McGuffin of the movie. It was really about what lies under the surface of a seemingly happy marriage when terror stalks them in the form of surveillance tapes being left at the door, along with grisly child-like drawings and how they each face the terror. It seems the past is never far beneath the surface, either for people or a country and what they do comes back to haunt them, if not destroy them. Some scenes are truly shocking and come as a blow to the viewer. And the ending was true to life. Some people in the theater were puzzled; I was not. The French don't tie up endings nice and neatly.
Daniel Auteil plays the repressed, aloof husband beautifully. In fact, he plays aloof and repressed in many of his films. But beautifully, though. I'm racking my brain to find if he ever played in a comedy. Binoche, too, is such a great actress and really inhabits a role. The interaction between husband and wife rang true.
As noted above, I do not understand why yellow bold subtitles cannot be used. There was one scene where the subtitles were impossible to read. Luckily, it wasn't one of the "major" scenes but annoying as hell, just the same.
This is a movie that sticks with you for a long, long time.
Possible Spoilers I think the tapes were the McGuffin of the movie. It was really about what lies under the surface of a seemingly happy marriage when terror stalks them in the form of surveillance tapes being left at the door, along with grisly child-like drawings and how they each face the terror. It seems the past is never far beneath the surface, either for people or a country and what they do comes back to haunt them, if not destroy them. Some scenes are truly shocking and come as a blow to the viewer. And the ending was true to life. Some people in the theater were puzzled; I was not. The French don't tie up endings nice and neatly.
Daniel Auteil plays the repressed, aloof husband beautifully. In fact, he plays aloof and repressed in many of his films. But beautifully, though. I'm racking my brain to find if he ever played in a comedy. Binoche, too, is such a great actress and really inhabits a role. The interaction between husband and wife rang true.
As noted above, I do not understand why yellow bold subtitles cannot be used. There was one scene where the subtitles were impossible to read. Luckily, it wasn't one of the "major" scenes but annoying as hell, just the same.
This is a movie that sticks with you for a long, long time.