Dark Light

L’adversaire FR 2002 (120′)- Dir.: Nicole Garcia. With Daniel Auteuil, Géraldine Pailhas, François Cluzet. My rating 3 stars | Official site | dvd

In 1993 France was shocked by a crime nobody understood: A man killed his wife, his two children and both his parents; he tried to commit suicide. He had been lying for 18 years to his family and friends, and to finish with this dark secret. The man survived, and was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Nicole Garcia, one of France’s finest actresses, previously directed Place Vendôme, a similar dark tale about the misery of middle class life. But this story is actually a true one, which makes watching the film even more terrifying. The film is based on the book with the same title, by Emmanuel Carrère published in 2000 (also translated in English), but I wonder if people who do not know the background story will understand anything of the film. L’Adversaire has good and appropriate undercooled acting (Daniel Auteuil plays the disturbed Jean-Marc), and the whole film is very tense. However, I would not recommend this film if you are already depressed, or a compulsive liar…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Related Posts

Carnages

FR/BE 2002 (130′)- Dir.: Delphine Gleize. With Chiara Mastroianni, Jacques Gamblin, Angela Molina. | My rating: | Official…

Gangs of New York

Gangs of New York USA/IT/GER/NL 2002 (168′)- Dir.: Martin Scorsese. With Leonardo Dicaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis, Cameron Diaz. My…

Now shooting

From 25 February on, I will spend six months in sunny California to follow a film course at the…

Petites coupures

FR 2003 (95′)- Dir.: Pascal Bonitzer. It can be called quite an accomplishement to make actresses Kristin Scott-Thomas…