PERSECUTION - Quintessential Chereau Now On DemandNovember 26, 2010
Eurocinema
On Demand Weekly provides new movie reviews of hot movies on demand from the POV of watching from the comfort of your home. Today’s review: PERSECUTION (Eurocinema).
Email Cynthia Kane
PERSECUTION is the latest by auteur Patrice Chéreau who’s made such brilliant films such as QUEEN MARGOT, INTIMACY, GABRIELLE. Well-known in France as a director of theatre and opera, these influences play out in all of Chéreau’s work.
But why “persecution” and not “suffering” or “self-torture” or “intense guilt” as a title?... except it’s true, it doesn’t sound as good. Why “persecution”? Is the central character so intensely self-analytical that he ends of being his own persecutor? Does he have the power to stop himself?
We meet Daniel (Romain Duris) who is torturously plagued by guilt and self-doubt, in love with Sonia (Charlotte Gainsbourg), who in turn loves him, but cannot bear to be suffocated in a relationship. Daniel puts himself out there for damaged people, such as his friend, Michel, and regularly visits the elderly in a home where his father died alone. Whether he does it because he’s a decent guys is doubtful; it’s obviously driven by his guilt of which we get very few clues.
Suddenly viewing after an ugly scene on the métro, Daniel becomes intrigued with a vulnerable young woman who’s been attacked by an odd vagrant woman after making eye contact. He follows the shaken victim to the nearest exit, eager to understand and decipher the non-verbal cues that had been exchanged in the moments before the searing and upsetting encounter. Angry and ashamed she shakes him off. Daniel runs smack into another observer of this scene, a seemingly ordinary guy (Jean-Hughes Anglade.) Then this man who turns out to be odd… and vagrant stalks Daniel, following him to his work sites, to his apartment, claiming his love and obsession.
Not surprising, things get tense. Obsession, anger, rejection, danger and violence consume Daniel’s psychological and daily life. He’s so tightly wound, he’s ready to explode.
PERSECUTION harkens back to the great French cinema of the New Wave. Chéreau gives us few clues to his characters, and there’s no hitting us over the head with exposition or unnecessary plot device. There’s much not filled in for us, the audience, which allows our imaginations to fill in the blanks, keeping the film, the characters and the story with us for long after.
What’s seductive about PERSECUTION is Romain Duris. He’s in every scene, without a doubt gorgeous to look at, be it anguished, tormented, face screwed in psychological pain as his character here. It’s said he was “discovered” in Paris– as in the Hollywood myths of old. Even technically “untrained”, he’s a fine actor and in what could be an “over-the-top” performance, he shies neatly away, with subtlety and nuance. His Daniel is a neurotic narcissist who constantly projects rejection and grief, and fails to ever be in the moment.
Who is the Vagrant Man, le Barjo (translated literally as the “nutter”) and why he’s obsessively in love with Daniel is never explained, yet one wonders, does he really exist or is he simply the embodiment of Daniel’s persecution? His exhaustive back and forth relationship with Sonia is as psychological renting as it is physically passionate. One thinks this poor guy could have a fairly decent life if only he didn’t get in his own way. Or sought out some therapy.
Tightly directed, this is quintessential Chéreau. One could imagine this as theatre or opera as easily as a film. He keeps it at that fine line, just from going over-that-top and becoming laughable. Instead we’re left with a provocative tale about the need in all of us for human connection.
- Cynthia Kane
Cynthia Kane is a writer, who in January 2007, moved cross-continent from New York City to San Francisco. Prior she’s had many incarnations from actor to writer to producer. She co-created DOCday on Sundance Channel during her 10-year tenure there.
PERSECUTION is available on Eurocinema On Demand until 2/28/10
Running time: 100 minutes / Not Rated
In French with English subtitles.
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