大象传媒

Genre hounds will be ticking off the horror references; there are echoes here of Psycho, Deliverance, Straw Dogs and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. But Fabrice Du Welz's perverse debut feature Calvaire is more than an act of cinematic homage. An impassive Laurent Lucas plays a cabaret singer stranded in the middle of nowhere and pursued by unhinged backwoodsmen. Think a Belgian League Of Gentlemen with lots, lots more violence.

The film's opening scenes sketch out the central character's status as an object of desire: after a concert at a retirement home, he's propositioned both by a female OAP and a middle-aged matron. Seeking assistance at a remote farm when his van breaks down, Marc encounters the lonely owner Bartel (Jackie Berroyer) the only farmer to believe that this male visitor is none other than his departed wife Gloria, and there's no way that 'she' can leave him broken-hearted again.

"NIGHTMARISH PROVOCATION"

Calvaire doesn't exactly stint on brutality: the ordeal of the title encompasses male rape, forced cross-dressing, crucifixion, sex with animals, drowning, and a murderous shoot-out, although gratuitous close-ups of the violence are avoided. There's a surreal strain however to the storytelling, with the director refusing to explain the existence of this collectively crazed community and why Bartel and his sadistic rival in love Orton (Philippe Nahon) are completely convinced that Gloria has returned in the figure of Marc. Powerful performances and Benoit Dobie's striking photography make up for Du Welz's clumsy attempts to turn this nightmarish provocation into an allegory of Christian suffering.

In French with English subtitles.