This impressive debut feature from Philippe Haim is a stylish realisation of one of our worst nightmares, that of being trapped and at the mercy of a lunatic.
Just as Kathy Bates was inspired casting as Annie Wilkes in Rob Reiner's similarly themed 'Misery' so Haim has the great good fortune to have secured the services of veteran Jean Rochefort as Monsieur Clément. The character is a monster to be sure but as one would expect from this superlative artiste he has succeeded in arousing our sympathy. We do not know the source of his particular brand of insanity and are left to conjecture whether it be caused by protracted solitude, excessive loneliness or the desperate need for love. Some have detected a hint of homoeroticism but that of course is down to the individual viewer.
Guillaume Canet plays the hapless victim and one cannot fail to sympathise with the physical pain, mental torture and all-round debasement that he is obliged to endure.
The director's own score together with excellent art/production design, an all pervading sense of claustrophobia, touches of black humour and the dynamic between the two principles combine to make this piece eminently watchable.
