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10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An unforgettably dark, disturbing, uniquely fascinating film, 24 Sep 2006
Disturbing; unsettling, weird; uncomfortable - these are just a few of the adjectives that most come to mind when I reflect upon this uniquely creepy film. The English title is The Ordeal, but ordeal really isn't an adequate description of what this film's protagonist endures over the course of this 90-minute film. I looked "Calvaire" up online and found that it translates from French to English as martyrdom or living death - yep, that's pretty much spot on, as I think all viewers of this film will agree. I like my horror as deep and disturbing as I can find it, yet I've never developed a real affinity for exploitation films or for the types of films that admittedly influenced Belgian director Fabrice Du Welz (including the original The Texas Chainsaw Massacre), and I don't believe anyone, (including this film's biggest fans) can say they actually enjoyed this cinematic experience - yet there's something special and certainly compelling about Calvaire. Even though I didn't interpret it exactly the way the director explains it, it's a darn impressive film that succeeds amazingly well at shocking and disturbing the viewer.
For a director's first feature-length movie - and one that that makes no secret of that director's cinematic influences - Calvaire achieves a sustained identity all its own, evincing a shrouded, unsettling cinematic atmosphere from the opening shot. It's most interesting to hear Du Welz talk about his cinematic vision and the film's intended transitions from naturalism to surrealism and back. I do have a problem with the way snow appears and disappears from the landscape (as well as the treatment of a couple of animal actors), but apart from that the cinematography is ruthlessly effective.
Calvaire asks "What's the worst that could happen?" and then sets about to answer that question rather definitively. Lounge singer Marc Stevens (Laurent Lucas) already lives in a depressing, colorless world, with a couple of rather disturbing events hastening him away from his latest gig performing at a retirement home. On the way to his next appearance, he takes to unfamiliar backcountry roads, leaving him high but not at all dry when his van breaks down in the middle of nowhere - at night - in a rainstorm. An obviously mentally challenged stranger out looking for his dog directs him to a rural inn just up the road. Upon Marc's arrival, the proprietor of that establishment, Bartel (Jackie Berroyer), seems nice enough, taking him in and volunteering to work on his van. He does a number on the van, all right, but not before revealing his obvious state of mental anguish over his wife Gloria's desertion of him. Bartel really, really wants his wife back. Do you see where I'm going with this? Gloria's gone, Marc's there. Gloria was a singer, Marc is a singer. I think you can imagine just what kind of dire situation Marc soon finds himself in.
As if things weren't bad enough for Marc already, the local villagers are also interested in "Gloria" - and they are even stranger than Bartel, as they prove during the oddest dancing scene I've ever seen in my life. From this point on, all bets are off in terms of what will happen - the only guarantee is that it will be memorable and increasingly disturbing. The ending is somewhat ambiguous, but by that point you're so knocked off-kilter that you don't really know how to react, anyway.
The making-of featurette, which consists of a lengthy interview with the director and some behind-the-scenes shots of key scenes, is extremely interesting. Du Welz's enthusiasm is contagious, and it's refreshing to hear him acknowledge his influences while detailing his peculiar vision for this film. It was here that I discovered that he carefully chose his actors in order to put a unique spin on the story, but my unfamiliarity with Jackie Berroyer in particular led me to interpret the story quite differently. (Among the cast members, I should note, is Brigitte Lahaie in a small cameo role.) Thus, I now have two different ways of looking at this film. You just don't find that kind of depth in the vast majority of studio films, and the same thing can be said of the daring of Du Welz, Berroyer, and - in particular - Laurent. If you're looking for something different, this is it. You may not enjoy Calvaire, but you can't help but be impressed by it.
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