I Stand Alone [DVD] [1999] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

As a lover of French cinema, I managed to bypass this film for quite some time, before stumbling across it on Amazon. I'm so glad I did. Also, as strange as it sounds - it contains the most touching embrace between two people I have ever seen on screen and in real life. Okay - continue....

After reading the Amazon review on here, I decided to watch the prequel, a 40 minute film called "Carne", before watching the full length "I Stand Alone". I'd highly recommend doing this if you can get hold of it, (I had to download it) as it sets up this film perfectly, and you get a steady introduction to all of the characters and events that have gone before. This would still be highly enjoyable "Carne" or no "Carne" but if you want the best viewing experience possible, that would be the way to do it.

It must be said that this film is not for everyone and is certainly not a feel good movie. The scenes are depressing and are often interspersed with philosophical soliloquies on the pointlessness of life, that leave you feeling overwhelmingly helpless for the duration of the film. As negative as that sounds, this only helps you to get on the same wavelength as the now homeless, unemployed butcher, Jean Chevalier.

The film is littered with tactical staccato violin stabs and shotgun blasts, that punch through the silence, and refuse to let you rest. It becomes clear that Jean Chevalier is not self destructing on his own - you will be right beside him for the ride. As the film races to a nauseating climax, we are warned that we have 30 seconds in which we can decide to carry on watching, or walk away unharmed, which only adds to the tension that has been steadily building throughout the film. I must admit, I felt a childlike sense of excitement when the countdown was over, like Christmas had arrived, and prepared myself for what was to come.

Please watch this film. It's wonderful!!!

I have watched this film some time ago but because it's been brought back up within my friendly pack I've managed to view it again while enclosing you to read this today. I have also seen Noe's Irreversible and thought it was quite disturbing but compare to this its sort of tame.

"I Stand Alone" was the debut feature film from French filmmaker Gaspar Noé. Noé rose to cult status in 2002 with his controversial film Irréversible which, in some circles, caused quite a stir. But "I Stand Alone" is a different film entirely. It is set in France circa 1980, and tells the story of The Butcher (Philippe Nahon). Forced into retirement due to bankruptcy, he finds himself locked into a marriage with his nagging pregnant wife (Frankie Pain) and a hateful mother-in-law (Martine Audrain). Having moved from Paris hoping for a new life, he finds himself at the very bottom of the barrel living in a cramped apartment and taunted by the women every moment of the day. Then one day when confronted by his wife for cheating he snaps. This man is ANGRY! and we are made aware of it in part by occasional acts of violence, but mostly by a continual stream-of-consciousness narration in which all his bile is directed in scatter-gun fashion at the world in general. It is difficult to tell how much this character is emblematic of Noe's own beliefs; one hopes he isn't.

Realizing what he's done the Butcher abandons them and returns to Paris. Poised on the edge, seething with bitterness and hatred for a world he must endure, he continues on looking for money, work and a place to stay. No one will help, not even his friends. After a barroom confrontation that leaves him filled with rage and filled with a resentment of his own life, he resorts to the one thing that makes him happy, this leads to what is quite possibly one of the most disturbing endings.

I usually don't like to compare films; I like to think that each piece can stand on its own and has its own merits. But there are many films today that borrow or pay homage to classics. "I Stand Alone" is one of those films that clearly borrow from films such as Taxi Driver. You can see the trademarks in the Butcher from the Travis Bickle character in Taxi Driver (Two-Disc Collector's Edition), the loner who's ready to explode from living in an unforgiving world that simmers with bitterness and hate. There is an unavoidable depth of decay and deprivation portrayed in the character that remains stagnant throughout the film. Unlike Taxi Driver the Butcher's depression doesn't transcend to nihilism, it builds and builds as the narration reaches an unconscionable crescendo. The Butcher reaches a point where all is lost except one ray of light, the proverbial silver lining, which is .......Sorry that's all I can say but recommended to you if your curios.

Gapar Noe is a great filmmaker. He is actually my new favorite Director and I look forward to seeing anything he touches upon seeing Irreversible which completely blew me away). It seems at first that his main focus is to take the things we have not yet endured in film and make us numb to it all.Noe is technically sound and writes an a decent screenplay here particularly the dialogue). Subtitles aside, if you speak English or French, the dialogue takes you deep into the mind of the film's "protagonist" (a character we briefly encounter in Irreversible as well).

Let's dissect the word protagonist for a moment. It can mean the principal figure or it can mean the leader of some kind of cause. Noe uses his protagonist for the former and destroys any positive connotation the word may have held at any point. Michael Corleone (The Godfather) and William Munney (The Unforgiven) are examples of villains directors are sympathetic toward, but there we find reason for their downward plunge, whether it be selfishness or simply the ever-relative feelings of retribution. These classic films pose some intriguing questions. Does real evil exist and assuming it does why should we care about what it thinks? or worse yet how we may actually see ourselves in their errors? Why can't we just put them in films and let their actions speak for themselves and let their consequences carry the audience toward a satisfying feeling of payback or resolution?

This story is about an old man released from jail and attempting to live his life plagued with guilt and hopelessness. He is a sad, indirectly sorry, unrealistic and profoundly disturbed character. He is misled and careless to everything around him. The kind of person we want to ignore completely and not know anything about. The kind of person whose motivations when taken into account entirely, make many of us cringe and want to warehouse him and others of his ilk in the demonic subculture of the American Correctional Facilities. But Noe takes a different approach completely. He not only engages this character but he refuses to sympathize, he just shows us what makes him tick. The film serves as a sort of diary for this character and shows us little in way of hope. He shows us a man who rationalizes every single dark thought and action he completes regardless of the fact that they are all so impulsive, primal and damaging to everything and everyone around him.

What Noe seems to understand is that the world is not always black or white, good or evil; but sometimes evil and more evil, pitch black and even darker. So here we can attempt to understand why a man would have a difficult decision to make between rape or murder, no matter how scary this proposition may sound to us. If you dare to take yourself into this character's mind then you may begin to realize that sympathy for anyone with even the potential to be like this is probably pointless, but your opinions are your own observations.

Keep in mind that Noe is not an advocate for his dark characters, he is really just a host. There are no messages in his film beyond how ugly life is in some circles. I'm not sure he means to say that life is as pointless as it seems here and in Irreversible. The film is definitely not for everyone; in fact chances are you will hate it very much but if you make similar observations that I have made after watching a movie than please go right ahead, but be careful. The film does contain some extreme violence and a brief pornographic sequence that appears on a TV screen, so be wary of these elements as well.