Aline Isserman is Yannick Andréi 's sister-in-arms :both produce works which deal with the woman's position in society ; Andréi was the first to devote a whole film to a rape and its aftermath (after ida Lupino's "outrage" in the USA) ,Isserman broaches here incest , in a much more convincing way that Malle's insignificant "souffle au coeur"(1971)
Both principals are either almost unknown thespians (Mireille Périer) or a pop singer (the late Alain Bashung ,whose performance is thoroughly remarkable ; the viewer does not know whether he must hate or pity him ;his final confession will haunt you long after the screening).On the other hand,the supporting parts are played by bigger French actors :Dominique Lavanant, Thierry Lhermitte ,the great Emmanuelle riva in a role unworthy of herself)
The young Sandrine Blancke , in a part of an abused child ,gives it all without overplaying ;she remains sparing of words and gestures.
A picnic in the country shows the perfect family;but at school , an essay makes the teacher suspicious : a personal version of Charles Perrault 's "Donkey Skin" in which a king wants to marry his daughter :refusing the obligatory happy end of the fairy tale ,no "and they lived happily ever after" but a tragical fate lies in store for the princess .
And if this essay were the key to a family tragedy? Much to father's displeasure ,a social worker and a youth worker come to visit the house and they find strange things;little by little ,cracks in the mirror appear : the girl does not want to sleep without her pet dog (who protects her) , she lies undressed on her bed ,she becomes anorexic ...She confesses unthinkable things to the police and the father is accused .
Despite the brilliance of the cast , the screenplay is sometimes overloaded :it works when it deals with dad's background , who remembers his childhood fears ,with a bigger-than -nature father who would take him to hunting rapaces with him ,and who abused his children too ;these fears never went away and emerge again as he makes his way through adulthood and come back at night,when his wife ,who works by night as a nurse,is away.
On the other hand, the mother's past is overblown and does not bring anything to the plot :doesn't one learn that she had a little brother who died two years before she was born ,and that her own mother has always had a grudge against her and demanded her to be perfect ?If it were not enough ,the movie has international pretensions and shows one of Saddam Hussein' s hostages ,the famous little boy and his cornflakes for breakfast.
In spite of these reservations ,it is a movie to be recommended ,for this kind of horror happens every day,everywhere.
