The Intruder

After reading one of the other reviews, I opted to give this film a try. Boy was I disappointed. My Dish network guide which only gives ratings up to four stars, gave this one a 2+ star rank. After watching it, I can only shake my head and wonder why. The premise of the movie, a woman coming into the police station and confesses to crime which occurred two years earlier. The hook, she couldn't have done the crime as she claims she just committed the crime the day she walks into the police station.

I don't want to disclose the ending, or be a spoiler, so I won't go there. But suffice it to say there are so many red herrings, convoluted twists, and down right silly plot lines, that the films surpasses the point of absurdity. You find yourself not caring any longer about the characters, and only wishing the film would end. This film tries to breach a number of different genre's including mystery, thriller, horror and science fiction. Sadly, the mix rather than becoming an intriguing stew, becomes a weak broth leaving the viewer unfulfilled.

A man (Charles Powell) and woman (Charlotte Gainsbourg)meet after the latter is the victim of a purse snatching. They quickly fall in love and decide to marry. Before the marriage, however, the girl shoots a female intruder that has broken into their house. Strangely, the intruder looks just like her new fiancé's former girlfriend who was herself shot and fatally wounded by an intruder in the same house several years earlier. It quickly becomes unclear who the real "intruder" is.

I have to confess that I would watch the lovely French actress Charlotte Gainsbourg trimming her nose hairs for two hours, and here she demonstrates her usual inability to keep all her clothes on for an entire movie (a trait inherited perhaps from her equally yummy Britsh mummy Jane Birkin, who did the first full-frontal nude scene in a mainstream movie with "Blow Up" in 1966). This is actually a pretty interesting and entertaining movie though. It's hard to say too much about it without giving away the major plot points, but suffice it to say that while this movie seems to start out as a typical lame erotic thriller, it takes some interesting metaphysical turns. It's a little too ambitious for its own good perhaps, but that's a lot better than most of these kind of movies which usually don't have an original thought in their head.

The acting is also quite good, especially some of the supporting cast like British thesp. John Hannah, cult fave Molly Parker, and even Natassia Kinski in an extended cameo(thus you have the sexy daughters of the two most infamous rakes in Europe, Serg Gainsbourg and Klaus Kinski, together in one movie).

I don't want to rave unreservedly about this perhaps, but it certainly is a worthwhile little thriller.

This film is yet another example of the less than adequate sound quality in many imports. This film has dialogue that counts, it deserves theatrical level sound - not the shoddy system that is all too common in Two Left Feet Corp. imports. There is a nice streak of relativistic sci-fi, and as in Event Horizon et al - it's amazing how all arguments about relativistic time can be solved by folding a piece of paper! If Only! The acting is reasonable - except for the worst impression of a lawyer I have ever seen! I think that this guy had the script in his lap! Oh Well - if nothing else on the shelf grabs you - this is worth the rent - but rental ONLY!

I cannot comprehend how films this bad get made, what with all the time, money and effort that goes into film-making. Didn't anyone (the director, the producer, the editors) WATCH the film??? Couldn't they SEE how bad it was??? It contains some of the WORST acting I have ever seen. Reminded me of one of those "adult" films that Showtime broadcasts late at night. Just simply awful. I still can't believe that Nastassja Kinski agreed to be a part of this. Fortunately for us, David Bailey hasn't directed another feature-length film since! Avoid this piece of crap at ALL COSTS. Better yet, BUY every copy you can find, both the VHS and the DVD (I guarantee you this will be in the El Cheapo Clearance Dump Bins all over the world), and destroy them to spare the rest of humanity from this atrocity...

There is sufficient tension generated in the film to make one want to watch it through its end, even if the explanation is pure science fiction. Nastassja Kinski has a nice role in which she can appear to be glamorous and rich. She plays it straight because there is no other way to play it. The bulk of the picture is told in flashback, right from the beginning with numerous red herrings that seem to have been in season. Now, let's see, how did that blood end up on Catherine's face? That is the key to the movie. Or as Sherlock Holmes would say: when you have eliminated everything else, what is left must be the truth?