This French thriller is a difficult one to define. It seems to be a romantic film crossed with a suspense thriller, set in a spooky old haunted house straight out of an old horror film, complete with a clichéd mysterious maid who seems to know more about the situation than she lets on. As the film progresses the plot unwinds and things become more complex, occasionally shocking us with scenes of sexual violence and passion. Sadly the wannabe-stylish direction saps the film of substance and makes it difficult to watch in places and the ending is all over the shop, cross-cutting between three different situations, throwing in loads of explanations as to the mystery whilst creating more at the same time, ending as a confusing and largely unsatisfying mess that bizarrely manages to be happy and tragic both at the same time.
I haven't really seen many recent French films so I don't really know if this can be classed as a good example of their kind. I'm left with mixed feelings after watching it. The down-to-earth nature of the filming techniques and everyday characters gives it an earthy realism missing in American productions whilst the acting is pretty solid, especially from Jean-Hughes Anglade (MAXIMUM RISK) who underplays it as the unsuccessful author of a husband. Clotilde Coureau has little to do other than be sexy and sweet as his young wife, which she manages perfectly, although some of the heavy stuff towards the end seems to be a little above her abilities. Christine Boisson is pretty good as the creepy maid and has some nice character development as the film progresses, although I would have liked to see more of her character motivations as her final scene leaves a lot unresolved. As this is essentially a three-hander, the rest of the cast don't get much of a look in.
The setting of the house is fine and a lot of the kind-of horror aspects are well played, especially the half-wiped videotape which gave me the creeps even though it's not portrayed in a horrific fashion at all but a voyeuristic one. Unfortunately direction by Mathias Ledoux is lacking and goes for style over substance which is a bit of a disappointment. The story and plot are clever and the mystery is interesting, but the way in which it is explained leaves a lot to be desired and the viewer is left unsatisfied at the way such explanation is handled. Better direction and a story concentrating on dialogue instead of mindless activity would have helped propel this into a watchable movie, but it stands as a disappointment.
