GRADE: 9.5
When an 11-year-old girl is brutally raped and murdered in a quiet French village, a police detective who has forgotten how to feel emotions–because of the death of his own family in some kind of accident–investigates the crime, which turns out to ask more questions than it answers.
Director: Bruno Dumont
Country of Origin: France
Thoughts:
It’s bizarre to me that this movie received negative reviews from people who were confounded by it at the time. I’d certainly expect that from mainstream audiences, but not from critics, whose cries of tedium make me wonder if they’ve never seen a European arthouse film before! In any case, the movie is harsh, but also transcending. It depicts the horror and the beauty of human behavior and seems to make a case for compassion in the thick haze of ambiguous morality. Emmanuel Schotté’s performance as the damaged, mentally handicapped Inspector Pharaon De Winter is one of the most unforgettable roles of all time. Schotté’s face is maze of unresolvable emotions at any given moment: it gives the film its mystery, but also its range, and ultimately, its soul.
Loved the call-outs to Courbet’s “The Origin of the World,” as well.