directed by Pascal Laugier
I’ve been told that this film is one of the most drastic productions ever made. And at that point my curiosity took over, so I had to see it myself. Before we move on, I have to admit that this film is absolutely hardcore and I definitely wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who’s sensitive. The pictures you might see are so realistic and cruel that it takes a lot of strength to remember that it’s still fiction on the screen. You’ve been warned. The story begins with Lucie (Mylène Jampanoï, Jessie Pham as young Lucie), a girl who escapes real hell and ends up in an orphanage. There she meets Anna (Morjana Alaoui, Erika Scott as young Anna), who becomes her friend and protects her even during quite difficult times. Then we move on to the present where Lucie is an adult carrying a huge will to revenge. She goes into some house and murders all the family members believing that they were the ones hurting her as a child. Then she contacts Anna and asks her to come over to help her. Soon, we find out that Lucie is not only a murderer, but also a victim of some demonic woman. If you don’t want any more spoilers, feel free to leave now and get back after watching. Today, I feel the need to write a few words about my reflection on this story, so SPOILERS COMING. When I finished watching the film, I had two thoughts in mind. First – the ending is brilliant. The second – who’s the guy that wrote this screenplay and what’s his story? Apparently, the director and writer (one person) created this idea when he was suffering himself from deep depression. You can tell that, because this production is way too real, even if there’s the character of a demonic woman, so it must have been made by someone who’d gone through hell himself. In fact, this demon chasing Lucie is, in my opinion, her inner demon that she has to fight alone. Nobody else sees it, yet they see Lucie hurting herself. That’s pretty much an ugly picture of what depression may look like. Running away from such demon seems terrifying, exhausting and overwhelming, so at some point people just give up and decide to end it all. Some viewers may see it a classic slasher, I see a very important message coming out of it, especially the character of Lucie. And there’s Anna, her best friend, who’d love to help her, but sometimes we just can’t. We’re only humans. However, except this part of the story, I also appreciate the idea of looking for the answer about the afterlife. Obviously, it’s drastic, like the whole film, but also presenting how helpless human are. We have no idea what’s after death and we would really have to torture people to perhaps get a hint. Helplessness may lead to horrible actions. A lot of people are talking about the ending, but I’ll keep it to myself, because I’d like you to watch the film and come up with your own idea. In case you want to talk about it, feel free to message me. But to sum up – this is a damn good horror.
My rating: 7/10
S.
I have nothing to watch 