This is a difficult, painfully slow movie that will leave you with more questions than answers! Despite the glowing praise that is in the press at the moment for this movie, it is one that comes with a warning. This is Bruno Dumont’s fifth feature film, and is based about life in a small town France’s Boulogne sur Mer. The two main characters are a young goth woman and a strange homeless character, and it deals with their intense friendship and his attempts to keep her safe. He is quite an unearthly character, who has no sexual interest in the young woman, but cares for her deeply and is willing to do anything to keep her safe, as the scenes of extreme violence show. There are many scenes of the two of them walking through wide open landscapes, which are quite beautiful, but the camera does seem to dwell on them too long, so their effect diminishes over time. They have many brief conversations that largely deal with one of them leaving, or when they will meet up next.

The scenes of violence come as quite a shock between those of average life. They are brief but do leave a striking impact on your mind, before the movie reverts to its slow, languid style. There is also an undercurrent of demonic possession (mental illness?) that the homeless man seems capable exorcising. This is never spoken about in the text of the film, and is left completely open to the interpretation of the viewer. These scenes are all too brief and disappear as quickly as they arrive, again leaving questions in the mind of the audience.

While not being without its merits, which are largely in the cinematography, this is a movie that will confound, confuse and annoy the audience in equal measure. This is obviously just my opinion, and maybe you’ll agree with the Guardian or the Irish Times, with their high praise.

Grade: D