Courtesy of eOne Films
Dir: Marina de Van (In My Skin)
Cast: Sophie Marceau, Monica Bellucci, Andrea Di Stefano, Thierry Neuvic, Brigitte Catillon, Sylvie Granotier
France/Italy/Luxembourg/Belgium, 2009
Reason to see: French thriller from a female director? Sign me up!
Don't Look Back / Ne te retourne pas is a beautifully creepy film, with a sensitive touch and a intriguing uniquely female perspective. It's great to see women at the forefront of this film, directed by Marina de Van and featuring a lovely and talented cast including Sophie Marceau & Monica Bellucci. It's totally creepy, and although technically it is a drama/mystery/horror that IMDb lists it as, Don't Look Back felt very much to be a thriller of a personal variety. In the film we follow Jeanne through an exploration and deeply personal journey of dealing with her reality when things seem to subtly and inexplicably shift and change, challenging her perspective and her reality.
I found it very unnerving and creepy in terms of depicting these changes, and the subtle ones seemed to work a little better to me although the more obvious ones I was still impressed by the effects - I think they creeped me out the most out of anything else in the film. The idea itself is fascinating, and a huge strength to the film is the stellar cast. Sophie Marceau is beautiful and brilliant here, radiating confidence, resistance and confusion all as equally strong emotions. I know I've seen her before, although it may not have been since Braveheart, and I'll be sure to keep my eye on her in the future. There was also a lovely sophistication surrounding her, and the film as a whole - a welcome addition for female horror fans like me!
The tone of the film is another huge strength, successfully blurring our visual comfort zone of known into the unknown. Keeping the viewer off kilter while maintaining intrigue every step of the way. I wanted to know more. I wanted to see more. I wondered what would happen. It's a beautiful presentation of the horror of ideas and unnerving realities, and I'm so glad I had a chance to see it. I'd definitely recommend it to thriller fans and drama and idea based horror.
DVD Extras:
- Making of (24 minutes) Interviews with director Marina de Van, actors Sophie Marceau & Monica Bellucci, director of the visual effects Krao, producteur VFX Mikrs Image Pascal Giroux and animation supervisor Marie Celava plus film clips, concept art, behind the scenes footage, visual effects & computer effects in development, process and result (French only)
- Trailer (French only)
& Amazon.com
Shannon's Overall View:
I really enjoyed it
I'll watch it again
I recommend it to thriller fans
Return to Film Reviews or see more DVD Reviews
© Shannon Ridler, 2010
Courtesy of eOne Films
Courtesy of eOne Films
0 comments:
Post a Comment