Review by Tristan Bishop
Well, ‘Bastards’ is certainly an eye-catching English language title, isn’t it? It sounds, naturally, much more poetic in the original French (‘Les Salauds’). Director Claire Denis (probably best known to BAH readers for her 2001 film Trouble Every Day, which mixed blood and eroticism to devastating effect) is well-regarded in arthouse circles, and so, on hearing that she had made a revenge film I jumped at the chance to take a look. Oddly enough, the last film I checked out was the god awful Revenge For Jolly, which managed to take a simple vengeance plot and turn it into a near-unwatchable vanity project, so I was ready for what could only be an improvement.
We start powerfully with a shot of a young woman, naked bar heels (editor’s note – see, the picture above is relevant after all, shame on you for thinking otherwise), staggering senselessly through the streets, blood dribbling from between her legs. We eventually learn that this young woman is the niece of ex-sailor Marco (Vincent Lindon), who has gotten back in touch with his sister after he learns of the suicide of her husband. It transpires that the destruction of the family is linked to one of the creditors of the family business, Edouard (a creepy, cadaverous turn from veteran actor Michel Subor), and Marco vows to avenge his family. Taking a years’ sabbatical from his job, Marco moves into the same apartment as Edouard, and engineers an affair with Marco’s wife (Chiara Mastroianni) hoping to destroy his family in a similar way.
Denis’ film, it must be said, requires a bit of effort on the part of the viewer. This is not one of those films you can half watch whilst browsing the internet on your Smartphone (you know who you are). Quite apart from it obviously being in French with subtitles, there’s not actually all that much dialogue, as Denis’ strength is in showing rather than telling, and as a result, if you’re not actively reading what she’s giving you, then Les Salauds is likely to be a rather flat and confusing experience. But if you manage to either see it on a big screen, or hide your phone and laptop for the duration, then it’s just possible you might be seduced by the experience.
Top class cinematography, editing and a score by frequent collaborator Stuart A Staples (of Tindersticks) all perfectly compliment an intriguing narrative drive, expertly jumping back and forth in time as the plot unravels before us. Lindon makes for a compelling lead character too – looking like nothing less than a hangdog French everyman version of Mel Gibson, he is utterly convincing as a man obsessed with his revenge, and who is willing to use morally questionable tactics to achieve his aims. This in turn leads us to one of the most interesting aspects of the film – There’s a subtle moral unease at work here, which gives us no easy answer as to whether any of the actions in the film are justified. Characters that don’t deserve to be are punished, sometimes as an indirect result of Marco’s actions, and even those who have been severely damaged by Edouard don’t necessarily share Marco’s thirst for revenge, bringing some commendable complexity to a subgenre usually content to stick to the basics.
Speaking of genre, it would be difficult indeed to class this as a ‘horror’ film, or even a thriller, for that matter. Whilst the subject matter touches throughout on sexual exploitation it avoids graphic depictions, and those looking for rip-roaring violent vengeance are going to be slightly disappointed, but there is more real horror on show here than in a dozen Platinum Dunes productions, and by the time we come to the devastating conclusion (which stayed with this viewer for a good couple of days afterwards) there is little doubt that we have a revenge film here worthy of sitting alongside Gaspar Noe’s Irreversible as an example of how to put a fresh spin on a well-worn story.
Bastards is available now on Region 2 DVD from Artificial Eye.