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Lemming (2005)

Director: Dominik Moll

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From Time Out London

Like Moll’s earlier, similarly enjoyable ‘Harry, He’s Here to Help’, this offbeat cautionary tale shifts from deliciously droll comedy to dark, chillingly suspenseful drama as it subtly and stealthily charts the seismic changes that come to undermine and threaten the hitherto seemingly perfect marriage of a hotshot gadget-inventor (Laurent Lucas) and his homemaker wife (Charlotte Gainsbourg) after they invite his new boss (André Dussolier) and his wife (Charlotte Rampling) to dinner. The guests’ vicious (not to say sordid) spat in front of hosts creates considerable tension, but that’s as nothing compared to the extremely extreme aftermath of an unforeseen and unwelcome adulterous come-on. Meanwhile, a lemming is found blocking the S-bend beneath our faintly complacent dream-couple’s sink…

The most obvious cinematic references for Moll’s supremely imaginative black comedy-cum-thriller are Hitchcock and Buñuel, though a more useful entry-point might perhaps be the paintings of René Magritte (notwithstanding the director’s own pressbook allusions to Giorgio de Chirico). The sombre blues and greys, the strange interplay of day and night, the brooding mountainscapes, all echoing the great surrealist work, bring to the movie the unsettling quality of a waking dream, an impression amply and evocatively reinforced and enhanced by the inventive use of sound and music. Though the quietly bold overall assurance is arguably marred by a somewhat meandering final 20 minutes, the genuinely surrealist tone, together with the exemplary performances from the lead quartet, make for a most divertingly nightmarish experience. Philosophy in the bedroom? Blue cinema? Yes, but no matter; forget Magritte and just see it.

Author: Geoff Andrew 2006-04-25 10:40:27

Time Out London Issue 1862: April 26-May 3 2006