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    L'inconnu du lac

    Reviewed by
    pietroantoni@

    L'Inconnu du Lac or Stranger by the Lake ( the 'L' of Lac must be capitalized in French) premiered during 2013 but was thankfully released on DVD in 2014. I originally saw the film in Paris and was totally stunned by one of the most elegant, erotic and thrilling pieces of film in some time. At its conclusion the film received a standing ovation in Paris. When released. The film opened to unanimously great critical reviews, but I had already made up my mind that this was a sturdy, remarkable film even as I was leaving the Parisian Cinéma. What I first loved about the film is that it brought to mind two great directors, one long dead, the other a Canadian, still very much with us, a director not only of film but of the grandest of grand opera. Hitchcock, during the 1950's more than any other decade of his life brought to the screen thrillers that were indeed thrilling, but works of art he had to disguise by understatement as the decade would never tolerate anything remotely explicitly sexual, erotic or seductive in a perverted sense. All one has to do is see VERTIGO... well a bit more... and understand the nature of the film, the central character Jimmy Stewart and his total obsession with the Kim Novak character which is not only sexual and erotic despite direct UNDERTONES in the film, but still very creepy as Hitchcock, who has the entire film in his head, only lets us understand things at a frighteningly slow rate though the film never lets down for a moment. It's his genius way of building suspense till we are about to burst... Atom Egoyan, who with EXOTICA created an underbelly of society of disturbing proportions was obviously able to do his work in a very overt manner and thus we get this same erotic, sexual but deeply disturbing film of what I can only label a world of perverts and those who cater to their needs though it is much deeper than just that. I recently saw EXOTICA again and it had the same profound impact on me as when I saw it as a 20 something year old. Frankly, I believe director Guiraudie has created a little masterpiece that has not gone unnoticed except in North America where we are still afraid of the word SEX and the very implicit things it implies. North American society, which by all accounts, is supposed to be the grandest and the least unsophisticated in the ways of the world is still afraid of its own shadow. Just take a look at the response of the general public to David Fincher's great work in GONE GIRL for which he is nominated as BEST DIRECTOR of 2014, having already received 3 Director Guild Nominations and a win in as many years. It is North American society, by and large, which is creepy to me.

    Obviously I can't reveal much of any part of the plot, but I can comment on the film so as to give some understanding that what director Guiraudie was doing was certainly not anything new. Many have tried this genre, just that in this case the sexes happen to be the same. Ironically, in what is the most beautiful, gorgeous piece of French countryside by the LAKE of the title, cruisers ( as in looking for sex ) seem to hang out, some as regularly as teens hang around a 7/11. This by no means is the problem as Europe, on the whole, has no dilemma or hang-ups of any type with sexual activity. This I learned casually as blue and white collar workers in Germany would use their lunch break to tan TOTALLY NUDE, I mean not even a G-string, in parks close to their work. This was in 1995. Imagine if this happened anywhere in North America today! In any case as one makes casual sexual encounters with the occasional real acquaintance, the unspeakable happens. The entire film becomes provocative to say the least. It turns absorbing, seductive, voyeuristic exactly as in Hitchcock's REAR WINDOW minus the disabled Jimmy Stewart character, who perverted in his own way, uses his girl friend, Grace Kelly, to do the dirty work for him. Much like Stewart could not let go of his obsession in REAR WINDOW or VERTIGO, so to does STRANGER become a of film of unrelenting obsession, Guiraudie leading us into a thriller that can only be termed dangerously sexual and erotic, a GRAND SEDUCTION to use the name of last year's Canadian film with Brendan Gleeson, Gordon Pinset and Taylor Kitsch. I honestly believe people avoided this film for one essential reason which I won't dignify by repeating. Like the best of Hitchcock films of any era, Stranger by the Lake builds and keeps building to something quite unforgettable. I have friends who were terrified by the dénouement that one can't easily shake off. I know this is not a film for all tastes, but being European, the subject matter didn't and doesn't bother me in the least. What happens is all around us in every corner of the world. What makes the difference is that certain societies are still in a make believe world, a world of denial that such things actually do go on. It's all disastrously pitiful... and I don't mean the feature film!

    8
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    pietroantoni@  3.1.2015 age: 36-49 14,551 reviews

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