Peau d'homme coeur de bête

This is an exceptional first film on the ways violence can poison a family. The film pulls no punches and Angel wrist great performances from her cast. Especially the young girls. The film plays-out like a thriller and finishes like a Grim fairy-tale. I look forward to her future releases.

"Peau d'Homme Coeur de Bête" is a fairy tale in the classical sense. This isn't a Disney movie and we get the feeling that the children might be devoured at any moment. This tension runs throughout. Does this movie depict violence towards children? Not exactly. But the threat is real and ever-present. It saturates everything.

All of the men in this movie are struggling with their emotions and anger. After having left various male organizations (such as the military, the pseudo-military fraternity of cops and perhaps even prison) we see that these men don't know how to vent or focus their own aggression. It spills out. They lash out at those around them. When the men gather together this emotion tumbles from riot to celebration seemingly at random.

This is a dark portrait of "the heart of a beast" that beats within all men. In the end, however, there is a small sliver of hope. Perhaps it is possible, somehow, to vent this aggression in a non-destructive way.

If ever there was a movie teaching people how NOT to act - it is this one. Horribly over-acted, Bernard Blancan (Coco) is particularly awful! The films saving grace is Cathy Hinderchied (Aurelie - the little girl) who is absoltely beautiful and actually acts her part better than all of the so-called accomplished older actors. The part where Coco thumps the gradmother should be shocking. Instead I burst out laughing - thanks completely to Bernard Blancan hilarious facial expression. The way he shows anger is to open his eyes wide. he uses the same facial expression for happiness, confusion, etc. etc.

Pascal Cervo as Alex is very under-used as he is a very promising actor who simply isn't given the chance to really shine...

Overall, a huge disappointment!!

The last review pretty much nailed it on the head. I saw this movie at a film festival two years ago where it was much ballyhooed because it had won some award at some European festival in the months before. But I was stunned at how confused and just generally crappy this movie was. Its violent without reason or preview, the characters really don't make much sense and that title--oh boy! I believe its supposed to be released around the States this summer, but I'd recommend just cruising the freeway looking for free car accidents before you blow your cash on this one.

"Skin of Man, Heart of Beast" is a subtitled French flick which tells of a man who wanders back into the lives of his mother and brothers after a long absence he unconvincingly alleges to have spent in the Foreign Legion. A laconic and distant person, the film never really develops the character as it clumsily shows him becoming an increasingly aberrant "head case". A unfortunate attempt at dark psychodrama with low-end production value, this painfully tedious flick spends most of its time with the mundane activities of the family members making its 90%-filler/10%-thriller screenplay too little payoff for too much effort. Passable for all but the most diehard foreign film freaks into psychodramas in spite of above average critical reviews. (B-)