Préjudice

In "Préjudice" underground tensions suddenly erupt to the surface during a family dinner. In this respect the film is not unlike "Festen" (1998, Thomas Vinterberg).

In "Festen" however we get more and more sympathy with the victims, in "Préjudice" on the other hand our sympathy with the "victim" declines during the film.

The "victim" is a boy (Cédric played by Thomas Blanchard) that is behaving strangely and of whom we suspect at an early stage of the film that he has some sort of mental illness. Together with that presumption naturally arises some sympathy with this "poor boy". A sympathy he thoroughly forefeits during the rest of the film with his egocentric behaviour. At the beginning of the evening Cédrics sister anounces her pregnancy and Cédric simply can't stand that after that announcement she is the center of attention. After that he terrorizes the rest of the evening.

In this way "Préjudice" plays a trck with the expectations of the viewer. We are inclined to have sympathy with the weak, the assumption being that they are also sympathetic. In "Préjudice" Cédric uses his weakness to terrorize his (benevolent) environment.

Another aspect of "Préjudice" is the way it uses the natural environment c.q. The weather. The natural environment is filmed extremely out of focus but mimicks the atmosphere of the dinner party. Most noticable in a scene in which a torrential downpour suddenly breaks loose and dinner has to be moved from the garden to indoors.