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This is one of the most accomplished films I've seen from France in a while. French cinema always presents risky situations. Hollywood, in search of ideas, sometimes turns into other films for American consumption under disguises, where the original idea is totally changed, or presented in such an idiotic way, that probably the new film derived has nothing to do with the original one.

Director Coline Serreau presents a story about today's society, where there's always no time to pay attention to things, let alone go to the aid of someone who's being victimized on the street. The Vidals, a bourgeois couple are a typical example of people so preoccupied in their own little game; they have no time to help the young woman who is beaten to a pulp in front of their eyes.

Well, actually, Mme. Vidal has a conscience. She protests to Paul, her husband; he couldn't care less. She goes to the hospital where the victim is under a coma, trying to put things right. She then becomes obsessed with the situation. At least she is a decent, if somehow tardy Samaritan.

Noemi, the woman who's been beaten has her own sad story. Played with conviction by Rashida Brakni, she puts a plan to avenge herself against the people that got her in the present situation and tried to kill her.

The interplay between Noemi and Mme. Vidal, also played earnestly by Catherine Frot, is one of the best combinations of wits in a film.

The film never lets up. Showing a sure hand, Ms Serreau gives us an enjoyable film and a feminist take on the way things are done when a woman decides to say enough to all kinds of abuses she has been put all her life.

What impressed me more than anything about "Chaos" was the energetic acting. The two female leads seem absolutely driven in their portrayals, and it's a good thing, because their characters need all the energy they can get to cope with the whirlwind of savagery and plot twists in this terrifically entertaining (though sometimes hard to watch) film.

The only thing I disliked in "Chaos" was the cardboard portrayal of the husband. Though I consider myself a Francophile and have long enjoyed French films, I find French farce heavy-handed and really hard to take--and this role was handled farcically. But that's perhaps a cultural quibble, and overall I was greatly impressed by the film.

Highly recommended, but not for the squeamish.

The first thing that stands out in this movie is the performances by all the actors.The credit should of course go to the director but the cast is very well chosen and they all do more than justice to their roles.

It is a story of a young Muslim girl in France, who rebels against her male dominated society and tries to become someone.She has to face many hard-ships and obstacles in the process though.The movie also showcases the life of a french family and their own struggle to come to terms with themselves and their life. all this is presented in a very humorous tone.The viewers will laugh at the right time,enjoy the humour but importantly at the same time , they will not miss the underlying irony of things. One never loses touch of the struggle and the tribulations of the characters involved.

after a long time I have seen a movie, which unlike most movies dished out by the Hollywood studios these days, does'nt just concentrate either on the commercial aspect or is just made to satisfy the critics and do well at the Oscars. This movie just proves that with honest, dedicated work and the right(talented) people knowing , what they are doing, a Great movie can be made with a limited budget.

I would recommend this to everyone who want some entertainment as well as not feel they have just wasted their 2 hours.

It's funny; the two best films I've seen this year (sadly, CHAOS has only just made it to the Midwest United States in 2003), are both from France. Not only that, but none of the American films I've seen thus far even come close to this or Gaspar Noe's IRREVERSIBLE. Maybe we should rethink that stupid freedom fries thing and go seek out some real culture. CHAOS is a great film, a film that wastes no time. It starts with a bang when an Algerian prostitute named Noemie begs for a ride from Paul and his wife Helene as they drive by the scene of her merciless beating at the hands of three pimps. Paul locks the doors and, after the pimps have gone, leaving Noemie unconscious, gets out of the car only to wipe the windshield clean of the inconvenient blood Noemie has spilled upon it. A perfect opening to this film, showing the frailty of women at the hands of dominating men, and the inhumanity and selfishness of said men. As a human of the male persuasion myself, I was surprised to not feel any resentment toward the film's representation of manhood. It does not try to convince the viewer that all men are like this; just all the men in this film. At the same time, many men might feel uncomfortable at the incisiveness of the film's characterizations. At one point Helene says, "Not all men are bastards"; Noemie merely shrugs and smirks ever so slightly. It is more telling than a thousand words.

It has been said that satire should be like a very sharp razor blade: you don't know you've been cut until you see the blood. The same thing can be said of movies with a social agenda: it's better if you don't see it coming, which makes it all the more effective when it's over. If only filmmakers that preach their social or political views had a better sense of knowing when to stop `preaching', and let the audience draw their own conclusions, we'd have more movies with positive social messages.

Case in point is the film, `Chaos', by Coline Serreau, who presents a fairy tail story that celebrates, glorifies and idolizes the strength and perseverance of women in a male-dominated society. The main plot revolves around two women: Helene, an upper-middle class French woman, and Malika, a young prostitute. The two meet when Helene and her husband accidentally encounter Malika being violently attacked by a group of men. The couple witness this from inside their car, but the husband doesn't want to help or have anything to do with the girl, who's been left for dead. Helene, overwhelmed with guilt, decides to visits Malika in the hospital, against her husband's strict instructions. As Malika slowly regains consciousness, and her physical strength returns, the women grow closer, and the story behind the mysterious heroine unfolds. And, like a blooming flower, so does the magnitude of the story line, which becomes far too complicated to summarize here. (It's also far more involved than it needed to be for the plot or social commentary.)

Suffice to say, the story is all about Malika's and all the female characters' struggles to find individuality and freedom from under the thumb of the men in their lives. But the film doesn't stop there - it also makes observations (and hence, commentary) about French society, Muslim cultures, and a variety of other aspects of modern life. Attempting to serve all these objectives, the film tends to meander from one character to another, and one political statement to another, so it can squeeze it all in. This ends up overcomplicating things to a minor degree, but in the end, the movie is really all about women and their plight, and the movie makes no excuses or apologies about that.

For Helene, it's as simple as her leaving her good-for-nothing, ego-centric husband. For Malika, though, her first barrier is her patriarchic Muslim family, who stymied her attempts to educate herself or make a better life. Then it's her father, who tried to sell her to a man in Algeria for marriage. When she ran away just before her scheduled departure, she found herself under the influence of a pimp, who forced her into prostitution, drugged and raped her, and beat her relentlessly, over and over. Things get worse and worse for all the women in the film, major and minor characters alike, until things come to a head, when (surprise) all women come together and win, and all the men lose in a big, big way.

The film's use of satire is exaggeration and extremes, but you don't necessarily see that in one character alone, but all the characters as a collective. All the men are evil, and all the women are glorified. This use of two-dimensional character portrayal gives away the otherwise obvious moral agenda of the film; it also draws attention to the unsophisticated satirical vehicles normally employed by much less experienced filmmakers. It's almost as though Serreau gets so lost in her own agenda that she forgets the true nature of cutting satire. When events develop so transparently and obviously, you can't help but know that this film is only trying to preach to the converted.

Effective satire is about making acute and keen observations of real people, subtly leading us to the filmmaker's desired conclusions, all the while letting us think we got there on our own. We need to see at least one of the heroines lose because the sad reality is that not all women leave the men that subjugate them--we need to be reminded of that not just for the dose of reality for credibility's sake, but it accentuates the emotional impact of the victories of the women that do overcome their barriers. Similarly, one of the bad guys should be portrayed as changing his ways so as to draw more attention to those who don't. Serreau's problem is that she can't accept a character losing. This, in itself, compromises credibility. As Shakespeare once said, `thou doest protest too loudly.'

There's no question that `Chaos' will win the hearts and minds of women who feel victimized, or who seek the camaraderie of seeing strong women win on screen. But it's almost sad to see them rally around what is essentially a vacuous film that doesn't carry the more cogent message it could have been so much more effective at giving. I guess it's my way of saying, `preaching to the converted isn't hard. Leave that to the amateurs.'

CHAOS is a melodrama, yes, indeed. But when melodramas are this much fun--this exciting, socially aware, funny, heartfelt, just plain interesting and oh-so-pertinent to our world today, we should only have more of them this good. As a fan of writer/director Coline Serreau since her POURQUOI PAS?, I was still unprepared for how terrific this new film is. Actors Vincent Lindon and Catherine Frot are wonderful, as usual, but it's newcomer Rachida Brakni who is stunning from first to last. The story, which begins with an auto accident, never lets up its tension and grows more complicated and intriguing as it proceeds. If, as some have said, CHAOS is anti-men, the men in this film certainly deserve their raspberries. Further, the movie should be "must" viewing for Islamic families around the world. While I would stake my life on the fact that not all Muslim families are as male-dominated by lunkheads as is the family shown here, still--the Islamic world must eventually come to terms with its women and their liberation, if they and the rest of us are to prosper. CHAOS is must-viewing for so many reasons, I can't begin to count them here. Rent it as soon as you can.

"Chaos" is a subtitled French flick about a middle aged couple who make no effort to help a street hooker who is being beaten by three men. As this dramedy unfolds, the wife finds the hooker in the hospital, helps nurse her back to health, and thus begins a long relationship which carriers them into a variety of situations including revenge wreaked upon a pimp, some payback for to the bad Samaritan husband, the rescue of an Algerian girl who is about to be sold into marriage, etc. The film is a technically good effort. However, the comedic and dramatic components don't work together but rather work against each other diluting their efficacy and rendering the film a matter of curiosity rather than a vehicle for entertainment. Pass on this one unless you have a taste for clumsy feminist subtitled black comedy. (B-)

I saw this movie in Paris last year (2001). It is a delight. It maintains a modicum of comedy around a very violent and wrenching subject. It begins with a young prostitute fleeing for her life after practically being killed from a beating. France has a large Arab population. The young lady happens to be Arabic. This film plays on this clash of cultures and also plays on the clash between the sexes. I highly recommend it.

This movie was sent to me by accident because there are several movies with the title "Chaos." As it turns out, I absolutely loved this film! This is definitely not a movie for everybody. It is really quirky and some people are not going to understand the humor. If you read some of the other reviews, some people don't even realize this is a funny movie. It is certainly not a funny subject.

A middle class couple stand by as a prostitute is beaten up. Later, the woman tries to make amends by tending to the victim, who turns out had been sold into sex slavery. Despite that, it is actually really funny. It ends up being about a war of the sexes and female empowerment.

The movie looks like it was shot on video, but it looks great. It also has a real jazzy soundtrack. All the acting is good and the characters are engaging. You like the good ones and hate the bad ones.

If you like real off beat, quirky films, you should see this French version of "Chaos."

I'm not going to describe the plot, plenty of that below. However, i want to agree with the most enthusiastic posters : this movie is a true gem.

It's a punch in the face when you see it, and you keep on carrying it with you after that. It's been 2 years since i saw, only once, Chaos, and still i cannot get it out of my head.

Many movies have come and gone since, but how many of them have left their mark, how many made you *really* reconsider some aspects of your life ? (Not that i was a male chauvinist pig to begin with, i think/hope.) This is one angry, 100% essential movie.

Chaos is a gem, mostly undiscovered, very smart, every so often I see a movie that is simply great. A great melding of art and entertainment. This movie takes female rage and bonding seriously, but not stridently, very cool movie

In line with her previous work, Colinne Serreau uses in Chaos tragi-comedy and caricatural characters to draw crude light on our society. The focus of this film is on the many ways muslim women are exploited and abused by their society's patriarcal system, in their country of origin and as immigrants, among general indifference.

This film certainly isn't trying to please every audience. Although the dialogues aren't moralistic at all, the situations presented are mercyless. It is a hard and shaking eye-opener, but Serreau's acute comedic sense and the excellence of the team of actors will help you swallow the pill.

We trembled, we laughed hysterically with the whole room, I can't get it out of my head. We will certainly see it again.

Everything about this film is plastic. The style is stale. The writing is pathetic. I am writing this after I heard Malika tell her life story. Most of the dialogue is inept and the plot is completely inane and Rachida plays a prostitute worse than Julia Roberts. There is nothing unique or even interesting in this film. The characters are either great and courageous (female) or terrible and asinine(male). There is no character development and everything is staged. I don't care about anyone in this film because they act like actors or actresses badly playing their parts. I don't believe anyone in this film. This is one of the worst films I have ever seen. None of these actresses have the skills to pull off a film like this.

The film drove me to web surf. The fight scenes are so unbelievable. Finally the conclusion that took forever to arrive. What a load of garbage! No surprises, a lot of preaching, garbage through and through.

Just see this film! Be prepared though - as a man you will not be especially proud of your fellow menfolk. I have never before felt the need to write a comment on IMDB - but "Chaos" made me want to be a better man and my first step is to spread the word and tell whoever will listen to please see this movie. It is like karma. If I can persuade only one person to see this movie and maybe the next day be kind to a stranger or a friend whom otherwise would go unnoticed or ignored, I will not have wasted my time.

Never seen a French movie before? Cast aside any doubts and prejudices you might have regarding anything French and go ahead - make your day! You might be offended or angered by the underlying social and socio-sexual message but the plot will leave you hanging on to every 6540 seconds of the movie. The acting is superb - it is hard to say who makes the biggest impression. The three main characters are all unforgettable. Yet Line Renaud as Mamie is perhaps the most brilliant of them all. Some of the scenes in which she appears are unforgettable.

It is one of those rare movies that makes you feel something. Hope, love, frustration, anger, alive, male chauvinist pig. Lots of feelings that are hard to name but just sit there somewhere deep inside like that frustrating feeling when you catch a glimpse of a beautiful girl out of the corner of you eye and you know you will probably never see her again.

From New Yorker Films and prolific French producer Alain Sarde, writer-director Coline Serreau's 2001 French film "Chaos" is very much a woman's adventure. The storyline is from the women's perspective, main action performances (and slapsticks) by women. Story revolves around 4 women - a mother in law (Line Renaud is quiet Mamie aptly cast), a sister (Hajar Nouma is naïve Zora unaware) are supporting roles to the two central gutsy characters: Hélène (neat and deftly portrayed by Catherine Frot) and Noémie/Malika (brilliant and forcefully played by Rachida Brakni). The serious & comical, patient & impetuous interactions between Hélène and Noémie sure kept the tight yet fun suspense drama going, with bemusing (and thoughtful) 'comments' on men - the husband ( the ill at ease egocentric Paul played with such facility by Vincent Lindon of Clair Denis' "Friday Night" 2001), the son (the callous immature Frabrice played by Aurélien Wiik), heartless fathers, boorish brothers, brutal gangsters and nasty pimps.

The film is no lightweight fare. It's a heartfelt reflection on women's place in society in similar situation/environment as the four women depicted in "Chaos" - and there's hope for tenacious bonding relationships to blossom and grown. The ending sight is serene and peaceful to behold, full of heart.

There are social commentaries sprinkled through out the film, be it obvious or subtle. Following the two women made us care about what will happen next: how will Hélène get pass/deal with the hoodlums, will Malika wake up, how can she fight the thugs in a wheelchair, is Paul really such a wimp and a jerk, do we treat our mothers like that - such observant perceptions Serreau included.

With the war situation, we are more aware of the fragility of life and how death can occur without warning. Like Yin & Yang, life & death are inseparable forces. What happens brought the two together, changing each other's course of life. 'tis death to the 'former' way of life and began anew their ventures, helping each other to attain the 'peace' they somehow individually needed. Esoteric this may sound, the dramatic plot of "Chaos" is entertaining assured.

The hospital bedside scene reminded me of Erick Zonca's "The Dreamlife of Angels" aka "La Vie rêvée des anges" 1998 - another worthwhile dramatic French film. Both films are available on DVD.

Colin Serreau wrote and directed "Three Men and A Cradle" in 1985 aka "Trois hommes et un couffin" with U.S. remake as "Three Men and A Baby" in 1987.

It is a romantic comedy. No, it is a drama of class conflict. No, it is a crime thriller. No, it is a chick flick – all the men are either brutes or comically clueless while strong women bond. But wait! It is all of these – and more! At first thought, one might well jump to the conclusion that such a mixing of tones is a sure recipe for…well…chaos. But writer/director Coline Serreau blends all the elements perfectly into a funny, suspenseful, and uplifting film. It begins with a professional couple (Catherine Frot and Vincent Lindon) rushing out of their apartment, late for a dinner engagement. On the way there, a woman, obviously a prostitute, who is being pursued by three men, runs toward their car yelling for help. Lindon locks the doors. The woman is caught and is being savagely beaten as the couple drives away. Lindon doesn't want to be involved, but Frot finds the woman unconscious in a public hospital and becomes her major caregiver and protector. Frot is excellent. Rachida Brakni, who plays the young woman forced into prostitution but trying to break away, is a terrific new talent. Can a guy fall in love with two women at the same time? I did while watching this movie. This just in! Director Serreau did such great work that she has landed the job of directing the inevitable Hollywood remake of her own film, due in '06. It looks like Meryl Streep will take the role played by Catherine Frot. Some days I think I must go mad.

This is one of my favorite films of all times! It is suspensful, you are on the edge of your seat for the entire film. Just when you think the plot can't thicken any more it gets even more thick! It is one of the few films I have seen where I never looked at my watch. Don't miss it!

This fast-paced, intelligent parable about sexual equality took me completely by surprise--I know a movie really works for me when I forget to check the clock or get snacks or just nod off. This is a chase film of a sort, and a whodunit--but much more. Even before the titles, the thriller grabs the viewer with a scene of bloody violence, simultaneously contrasted with the insensitivity of those who exist in a bubble of wealth: the pace does not slacken, although the violence does.

The director has given each character time to expand, and, if they choose, to grow. It's true that most of the men in the film are shown to be beasts who think women chattel, but every film has a point of view, and this one is handled with a good deal of humor, with superb performances by a cast of relative unknowns; The tone of this offbeat character-driven romp reminds me of an Almodovar film without the craziness and eccentricity, but with a similar transcendent sense of empowerment.

Chaos is an amazing film. The filming techniques are dramatic, lending to the sense of constant stress that permeates the movie. Not only is Chaos pertinent, compiling issues of Maghrebin immigrants and modern French society with the secret horrors of the sex trade. I admit, many of the scenes were so disturbing to watch - or, rather, to imagine, since the most gruesome aspects of prostitution were left unshown - and it is impossible for me to comprehend how such things could continue in our modern world. This film exposes things no one wants to believe, but it leaves the viewer with an inspiring thought: that redemption is possible, friends are true, and justice can be done.

'Chaos' is a very surprising movie from many points of view. Director Coline Serreau drives a quite complex story, changes pace and uses different techniques all along the film, and so succeeds to keep the interest at pick for the whole duration of the movie.

It starts like a bourgeois drama - a couple in Paris refuses to help a young girl attacked by a gang of criminals. He is a total jerk, as are the majority of the male characters in the movie, but the wife followed by remorse searches for the young girl in the hospital and basically saves her life and supports her in the recovery process. The psychological drama in the first part of the film turns into a sordid gang story later with almost Terentinesque touches when we learn that the young prostitute is followed by her employers who are ready to bring her back at any price and not only for her services.

Well filmed and acted, with a remarkable performance from Rachida Brakni in the principal role the film succeeds to be convincing despite its very sharp and maybe too explicit social stands. The main character is a victim of sexual exploitation by men, as well as of oppression as a young woman in her family of Algerian origin and the authors make no secret where the guilt lies. The cinema qualities of the film avoid turning it into a manifest on screen and by providing an enjoyable and interesting film experience the message makes it better to the viewers.

.. with a bit of everything thrown in. The characters are all somewhat exagerated of course but this is cinema. Though many comments say the husband is absurd, he is simply a compression of many typical events into a shorter span of time (actually, the recovery in hospital takes a month, so the speed of his unravelling is not so unlikely). And nothing really suprising about the son too, not if you've been paying attention to your teen peers at college and visited France recently. So, though there is definately a touch of caricature at work it works well. Noemi is also exagerated, especially the Swiss activities and the flamethrower effect, but this is a film right? Not nearly as exagerated as your typical Hollywood thriller.

On the whole the pace moves well, the story builds about right, the comedic touch lightens up a dark plot, you wonder how it will get resolved, and at the end you see the resolution is not going to hold together. Notice the only obliviously happy smile was the final frame of the film, the other three sitting on the bench are not at all finished (nice acting throughout, by the way). And for that matter the husband and son may have even come out of the wringer with some improvements. I enjoyed it.

On DVD, color was good, imagery at times blurred by panning, sound quality ok and unmemorable. Occasional interludes of gorgeous scenery or cityscapes.

You can bet Hollywood will pick up this script and remake it. Except of course they won't dare touch the social commentary about the Algerian family, she'll be a nice kid from clueless suburbs in the remake. And they'll doubtless make the sex and violence more explicit.