Haute Tension was my baptism into the French Extremist genre, and I loved it. I can understand the detractors, I can especially understand the people who thought this was a rip-off of the Dean Koontz book Velocity (because the setup is almost identical), and once you know the twist it's sort of like watching Fight Club and trying to figure out how everything worked.
I think your take is perfect though: Marie's an unreliable narrator, and we're only let it on the 'truth' a couple of times throughout the movie. Everything else we see that's not, say, the security camera footage from the gas station is all viewed through the lens of her telling us what happened, and she's either lying her ass off or she's rearranged reality in her head to correspond with what she wanted to happen. We can't make sense of it because she can't make sense of it.
Makes sense to me... :D
Now, for me, the real test of a gore-hound is Martyrs. I've not had a film disturb me that badly since the first time I watched Cannibal Holocaust (and even then, the disturbing part of that film was the animal cruelty), but Martyrs screwed with my cerebrum for the better part of a month. :)
Mine too! A friend and I started a series of "French Horror Movie Nights" with this one, and it really stuck with me. I can understand the complaints, but I ended up being pretty set on its brilliance, and I'm eager to rewatch it with the knowledge that I now have and the contemplating that has been done since we first saw it. The only problem now is treading carefully on that line between "enjoyably messed-up" and "traumatized for life" as we wade through the better part of the gore catalog.
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Love the dark and macabre but not much of a fan of gore. I find it tends to detract from narrative and flow of the movie. I hate the pause for the groans or guffaws needed with gore scenes. There are a few cases where they increase the intensity of a scene or the intensity we might feel for a character. I think of the think with Neegan in walking dead. That was effective or the bleeding walls in the Shining but those really iconic moments are few and far between and most of the time. I really feel that gore should be used sparingly. Suspense and psychological ick factors. Now that is works. It sounds like Haute Tension was a winner in these two categories. It sounds like Marie had a fractured personality. Did the movie give any clue early on that this might be the case. Was there perhaps a triggered moment before the main action of the plot took place. I think that might help explain the plot better. Like David Lynch were there little symbolic nuances that might of have tied things more needly together?
Great review. I did not watch this movie, but now I want to.
Actually, I don't remember what was the last French horror movie I watched.
I learned to appreciate French cinema. For the most part they have a different take on storytelling (more visual, slower, more silences, more questions). But all the genres I have watched are aesthetically pleasing.
Thanks for sharing this review. You've sold the product and your approach to it well :)
Phenomenal review, Nico!
Haute Tension was my baptism into the French Extremist genre, and I loved it. I can understand the detractors, I can especially understand the people who thought this was a rip-off of the Dean Koontz book Velocity (because the setup is almost identical), and once you know the twist it's sort of like watching Fight Club and trying to figure out how everything worked.
I think your take is perfect though: Marie's an unreliable narrator, and we're only let it on the 'truth' a couple of times throughout the movie. Everything else we see that's not, say, the security camera footage from the gas station is all viewed through the lens of her telling us what happened, and she's either lying her ass off or she's rearranged reality in her head to correspond with what she wanted to happen. We can't make sense of it because she can't make sense of it.
Makes sense to me... :D
Now, for me, the real test of a gore-hound is Martyrs. I've not had a film disturb me that badly since the first time I watched Cannibal Holocaust (and even then, the disturbing part of that film was the animal cruelty), but Martyrs screwed with my cerebrum for the better part of a month. :)
Mine too! A friend and I started a series of "French Horror Movie Nights" with this one, and it really stuck with me. I can understand the complaints, but I ended up being pretty set on its brilliance, and I'm eager to rewatch it with the knowledge that I now have and the contemplating that has been done since we first saw it. The only problem now is treading carefully on that line between "enjoyably messed-up" and "traumatized for life" as we wade through the better part of the gore catalog.
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Love the dark and macabre but not much of a fan of gore. I find it tends to detract from narrative and flow of the movie. I hate the pause for the groans or guffaws needed with gore scenes. There are a few cases where they increase the intensity of a scene or the intensity we might feel for a character. I think of the think with Neegan in walking dead. That was effective or the bleeding walls in the Shining but those really iconic moments are few and far between and most of the time. I really feel that gore should be used sparingly. Suspense and psychological ick factors. Now that is works. It sounds like Haute Tension was a winner in these two categories. It sounds like Marie had a fractured personality. Did the movie give any clue early on that this might be the case. Was there perhaps a triggered moment before the main action of the plot took place. I think that might help explain the plot better. Like David Lynch were there little symbolic nuances that might of have tied things more needly together?
Great review.
Great review. I did not watch this movie, but now I want to.
Actually, I don't remember what was the last French horror movie I watched.
I learned to appreciate French cinema. For the most part they have a different take on storytelling (more visual, slower, more silences, more questions). But all the genres I have watched are aesthetically pleasing.
Thanks for sharing this review. You've sold the product and your approach to it well :)