Persécution

"Romain Duris is magnetic as an angst-ridden outsider in Patrice Chéreau's taut psychological drama, also starring Charlotte Gainsbourg. Daniel (Romain Duris) is a very angry man – almost a French cousin to Johnny, the protagonist of Mike Leigh's Naked. Falling out of the circle of conventional French society, he has become a loner working on a series of hand-to-mouth construction jobs and living at his work sites. Still he finds the time for oc... more

"Romain Duris is magnetic as an angst-ridden outsider in Patrice Chéreau's taut psychological drama, also starring Charlotte Gainsbourg. Daniel (Romain Duris) is a very angry man – almost a French cousin to Johnny, the protagonist of Mike Leigh's Naked. Falling out of the circle of conventional French society, he has become a loner working on a series of hand-to-mouth construction jobs and living at his work sites. Still he finds the time for occasional meetings with his girlfriend (Charlotte Gainsbourg), whose well-paid job often keeps her away, and for get-togethers with his social circle, usually spending evenings inveighing against his friends and spilling their confidences. But Daniel's life is complicated by the arrival of a mysterious, seemingly down-and-out man (Jean-Hugues Anglade) who keeps invading Daniel's space, sometimes committing damage, sometimes confessing undying love. Romain Duris, who first gave full rein to his dark side in The Beat That My Heart Skipped, stays in sombre mode in Patrice Chéreau's film – in mood and theme, something of a companion piece to the director's London-set Intimacy. Hitting a nerve of metropolitan unease, this is an intense and troubling film. Eric Neveux's edgy, guitar-laden score and claustrophobic photography by Yves Cape (see White Material and Hadewijch) make this one of Chéreau's most compelling yet." Quoting Jonathan Romney less