Mister V.

Deleuze's Peau Neuve was a wonderful study of a man whose change of jobs turns him into an obsessive. In this even more assured second feature, she treads not dissimilar ground while examining man's relationship to the animal world. Demy is extraordinarily effective as a scientist at first disapproving of his stable owner brother's purchase of a wild stallion, as part of an insurance scam to pay off his debts to a sinister Belgian. When the magnificent but obstinate beast proves even more violent than feared, Demy determines to take control of the situation himself, and embarks on a dark voyage of discovery as dangerous as it is exhilarating. None too concerned with the crime thriller trappings of her story, Deleuze focuses on the almost erotically intense encounter of man and horse, charting its effect on the protagonist's relationships both with his family and with his own hitherto unexplored wildness. Suspenseful, psychologically and philosophically subtle, bold and very beautiful.