31/13
Saw this at the Ghent filmfestival 2024
Synopsis
Three women in a Marseille apartment gets stuck in a heat wave. They find themselves trapped in a terrifying affair and longing for freedom.. Lots of nice and intriguing ideas. However, even so many annoying elements turn this movie into a not so perfect experience.
Naked bodies, half or fully undressed, are no problem either
The controversial reviews I've read, are understandable and a logical result. One of the annoying things is that I have a vague idea that the story tries to educate us how to interact with women, when they say No it means No, but we already got that and needs no introduction. Other annoying examples are that the three female protagonists act unorderly and counter productively, while trying to remove the traces of a crime, hopefully not intended to expose that as typically feminine.All these annoying parts overshadow the serious moments in this movie. As a seasoned Horror-lover, I do not object to the blood, nor the screaming, nor the severed body parts (and dangerous hardware to make that so).
Most of the characters appearing in this movie, are a bit vague in what they do and who they are
Bear in mind that we see lots of nudity in various stages of undressment (is that a word??), in house as well as in plein public.It is all ornamentation for me, not contributing much, alas hiding the good parts of the movie, the very original plot and the perfect acting of the main protagonists. The only people clearly outlined are the couple in the beginning, where a man complains against his wife, whereafter she takes drastic action, later telling that her husband stumbled and fell into a shovel. We must wait until the end to see that the police accompany her handcuffed, most probably not fully believing the explanation for her dead husband. This story is only a side dish, however.The main course of the movie is the interaction between three women on one side of the street with a good-looking man on the other side.
And they must cope with concerned neighbors suspecting something is wrong
Contrary to the straightforward story with above couple and the deadly shovel, it is impossible to even offer a suggestion for the many complications that result from the three ladies visiting the opposite apartment. One of the women stays with him, probably awaiting a happy sleepover, but the rest of the story is completely different, and unexpected as well as unprecedented. Bloody remains must be dealt with, not an everyday task for people like you and me, unexperienced in crime. And on top of all that, ghostly figures start to appear, not visible for everyone so extra complicated.
It is not a traditional horror that is built on atmosphere nor on eerie situations
Just a few hints I can give you, to say this story is very unusual, offering very original plot elements, and giving us unpredictable turns of events.All in all, lots of original ideas, some intriguing even. But some negative elements, maybe only negative for me and me alone, turn this movie into a halfway success. There is blood, there are severed body parts, and there are ghost figures, but it nevertheless will turn into a different kind of horror, where there is room for humor as well.
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