31/45
Lots of beautiful and interesting ideas
Line of Events
Three women in an apartment in Marseille are trapped in a heat wave. They find themselves trapped in a terrifying adventure and yearning for freedom.. Saw this at the Ghent Film Festival 2024. However, even this many annoying elements make this movie a less than perfect experience.
The controversial reviews I’ve read are understandable and a logical outcome
One of the annoying things is that I have a vague idea that the story is trying to teach us how to interact with women, when they say No means No, but I already get that and it needs no introduction. Other annoying examples are the three female protagonists acting erratically and counterproductively while trying to clear the tracks of a crime, hopefully not intended to expose this as typically female. All these annoying parts overshadow the serious moments in this movie. As a seasoned horror lover, I’m not opposed to blood, or screams, or severed body parts (and dangerous hardware to do it with).
Bare bodies, half or completely undressed, are no problem either
Keep in mind that we see a lot of nudity in various stages of undress (is that a word?), both at home and in public, it’s all embellishment, it doesn’t contribute much, unfortunately it hides the good parts of the film, the plot is very original and the perfect acting of the main protagonists. Most of the characters that appear in this film are a bit vague in what they do and who they are. The only people clearly delineated are the couple at the beginning, where a man complains against his wife, after which she takes drastic measures, later recounting that her husband tripped and fell into a shovel. We have to wait until the end to see the police escort her away in handcuffs, most likely not fully believing the explanation for her dead husband.
And they have to deal with concerned neighbors who suspect something is amiss
This story is just a garnish, however, the main course of the film is the interaction between three women on one side of the street with a handsome man on the other side. Unlike the simple story of the above couple and the deadly spade, it is impossible to give even a hint of the many complications that arise from the three ladies’ visit to the apartment opposite. One of the women stays with him, probably expecting a happy sleepover, but the rest of the story is completely different and unexpected, but also unprecedented. Bloody remains need to be dealt with, not an everyday task for people like you and me with no experience in crime.
It is not a traditional horror that is built on atmosphere or strange situations
And on top of that, ghostly figures begin to appear, which are not visible to everyone so complicated. I can only give you a few hints, to say that this story is very unusual, offering very original plot elements and giving us unpredictable events, a lot of original ideas, some even interesting. But some negatives, maybe only negatives for me and only me, make this movie a half success. There is blood, there are severed body parts, and there are ghostly figures, but it will still turn into a different kind of horror, where there is also room for humor.