Film

The Man From London (2007)

Director: Bela Tarr

Synopsis

Tarr’s measured, minimalist and mesmerisingly beautiful noir adaptation of a Simenon novel is less an exercise in suspense than a metaphysical study of temptation. A signalman, watching night after lonely night over a harbour, witnesses what seems to be a murder and, on investigating further, finds a suitcase of money which he decides to keep in order to improve his teenage daughter’s life – a decision that brings him into conflict with his wife as well as attracting the attention of both the murderer and a visiting detective. Long, complex takes, ultra-chiaroscuro lighting, quietly insistent music and a defiantly non-naturalistic approach to dialogue and sound effects take the film into a realm of timeless abstraction, so that the port, sea, wind and night feel almost mythic. Demanding, and certainly not to everyone’s taste (patience is needed), the film nevertheless has the power to thrill and amaze.

---

• 
•