Sombre

There are films that have a very difficult and challenging topic, that may also be very explicit. There are films that are shot in a way that makes them difficult to watch; very quick cuts; rapid camera movement; odd direction. There are films that have a compelling story-line.

This film is all of those.

To begin with, you may be forgiven for thinking that the cinematography methods used here are just to make it look 'arty'. However, as it progresses, I think the extremely dark, edgy, and confused imagery is a reflection of the state of Marc Barbé's mind; closed, confused, searching; helpless. The almost total lack of dialogue adds to the tension, as you are pulled along to an astonishing climax that will leave you thinking.

Whilst you are watching it not everything makes sense, however, in the days that follow, you will find yourself revisiting scenes in you head, wondering what they meant, working some of them out.

Sombre is a very difficult film to watch. It will affect you. You will think about it afterwards. To me, this is what films are all about. What you get out of this film is directly proportional to the amount you put in.

A miracle that film like this has screened for 2 shows in Bangkok Film Festival. After watching this film nothing will be the same for me again. I'm a very lazy lazy type to write much of any thing and not a diary-guy type. However this one is an exception and made me write down the detailed film synopsis all night. I don't wish to say more apart from the fact that anybody who can catch this film in the theatre, please don't miss it. You have to watch it in the theatre- otherwise no video transfer could help you to see much of anything, because most of the time the film was (intentionally)underlit.Call it charming ,weird,poetic,mad ,unforgettable or pretentious, but can you really forget it ? Wherever you are Pierre Grandrieux , I won't miss your second film.

in the usual sense of the term. This is a show for your senses : view of course, but also hear (the music of Alan Vega), smell or touch. The characters are filmed so close you can actually feel them in their gestures, you feel the love, you smell the fear. The picture is very dark, often fuzzy, never stable. It keeps on jumping from the lights of the car, to children's' screams, to womens' hips and hands on their throats. The film has raised a critical debate, some defining it as immoral and almost pornographic, the others considering it a pure chef-d'oeuvre. To my mind, it is both, and more than that. A real experience of cinema.

Far from morality and any kind of convention, Sombre is a film that's all about seeing the world through the eyes of a killer. Sound and image on the hand of Grandrieux are combined into something that can only be described as a simulation of a panic attack.

The film is basically about a travelling puppeteer who kills women just before having sex them. Most of these women are prostitutes or strippers and it's natural that when he meets one whose concern is not to arouse him sexually, he finds himself unable to treat her the same. While that may seem contrived, Grandrieux is more concerned with the idea to travelling or moving than the actual story. The plot is there to follow all the changing locations and scenery and along with that the evolving emotions of the two main characters. It's actually real interesting to see that the film suggests that move is most likely the most natural human act, in the sense that being in motion is a type of struggle (interior or exterior) which is the only road to evolution and completion.

"Sombre" tells the story of serial killer Jean(Marc Barbe)who murders unfortunate roadside hookers.After erotic play he strangles them to death.Claire(Elina Lowensohn)is a virginal and introverted young woman.She is taken for a ride with him."Sombre" is a bleak serial killer movie filled with dark and brooding atmosphere.The dialogue is kept to a minimum and the killings are shot in the pitch-blackness.The cinematography is stunningly minimalist and disorienting with jerky camera movements and lots of extreme close-ups.The murder scenes leave a lot to the imagination.But being in the dark is far more terrifying than seeing everything.The characters are paper-thin,but the acting is believable and the score by French band Suicide is effective."Sombre" is a step into the gloom.8 out of 10.If you liked Gerald Kargl's "Angst" you can't miss "Sombre".