A Extensão Do Domínio Da Luta

This is a bleak, occasionally funny film, a little flawed by its obsessive mentality but worth seeing.

We follow an IT trainer barely holding down his job, struggling against loneliness, endlessly diagnosing the pointlessness of it all. Perhaps not entirely new territory for a French film - similar ground was covered not long ago by Cédric Kahn's L'Ennui. But there's enough observational wit here to hold our interest throughout, and the slightly unconvincing mid-section is compensated for by closing scenes that hit the right note.

The character's dislike of women is the film's most disturbing element. His hypotheses, while sometimes wild enough to entertain, are unlikely to be totally shared by the viewer. The shots of trains travelling to industrial parks made me think of Martin Parr's Boring Postcards and if you find something profound about multi-storey car parks, this is the film for you. There are also incidental treats such as the intriguingly dull food that "Our Hero" eats and his disgustingly nicotine-stained fingers.

A film about a bored, depressed fortysomething in nineties Paris with a total lack of a sex life, and his bleak, morose views on life and women. Despite his depression and loneliness, 'Our Hero' seems reluctant to do anything about his problems, unlike his business friend Tisserand, who at least tries to attract a partner - but is doomed to failure every time. Well directed, with an intriguing narrative structure, this is an interesting film even with it's almost constant downbeat, depressing tone.

6.5/10.

The book on which this movie is based was excellent; it took a while to come to grips with Houellebecq's unconventional style but once I understood the mood behind the writing I was completely drawn into the author's world of sadness. In fact, no other book has affected me so much. This is not necessarily a good thing - it elucidated my own personal struggle and has made the futility of my own struggle harder to accept. Houellebecq's insights are masterfully captured by Harel and the hero's apathy and indifference to a world which has rejected him is perfectly portrayed. This is a movie which reveals today's society for the lowly male in all its horror. Hopefully, things will change in the future but for the present we have to accept the rat-race as shown in this movie. It's probably best that Harel or Houellebecq do not create a work of genius like this again. One is enough for any man.

Although very different, this is the type of film you may like if you appreciated Ghost World. The world is shown from an outsider's view who can't connect with people. It may not be on the same quality level and it has some freaky and disturbing shots at times but more often than not it hits right on the nail very firmly.

Some things depicted are grossly outdated even for a 1999 film like some of the clothing and the porn cinema. There are some brief pornographic images that could disturb some viewers. They didn't really bother me but seemed unnecessary although sex is an important topic of the film. It portrays life as a struggle that the main character refuses to waste his energy on. One is the masculine struggle for economical importance and dominance. The other is where the females have the power: sex. The gap between the haves and have-nots is much much bigger in the second department if you ask me (at least in western society) but there is an analogy between the two: they are both markets and humans have become products themselves in almost every way. It makes it hard to understand how people can stand life anymore. The main character is called "our hero" but the real hero is revealed in the end, struggling until the end, trying to make the best of it while the protagonist has given up on life.

Some things were disturbing, like when the protagonist recommends his colleague to kill a woman with a knife. It's not really convincing but explained as a way to gain power which is all what life seems to be about. Here, the characters become too much of a vehicle to carry ideas rather than real people. But mostly, the film is pretty real.

The female psychologist at the end also disturbed me, apparently she thought everybody who has no sex should either change that quickly or commit suicide, or at least has to stay absolutely miserable, as if nothing else matters in life than sex. If she applied her philosophy worldwide she'd be a mass murderer (for causing many suicides). Her beliefs might be more depressing than this film which is mostly funny in the first half and gets bleaker and sadder in the second, where tears get harder to suppress. The movie moved me in both ways and is good for that reason but also the sharp and keen insights on how the world worked...really I saw so many truths in this film, mostly the ones that were told by the main character. While he's clearly depressed his views are unfortunately too crystal clear and true for the film to be comfortable to watch. It hits you where it hurts which is exactly the intent of the writer Michel Houellebecq.

The main defect of the film is the reliance on voice overs. However the medium does add value by depicting precisely how things work in a discotheque for instance, or how things at work can be. There is also this dry humor at times that has to be timed, something that cannot be done in a book. Some typically French things also made me crack up, like waiting half a minute before nodding to the "garcon" that the wine is acceptable.

You will not relate to this movie if your (sex) life is fantastic and perfect and you don't understand depressed people or don't care about philosophy or psychology. Otherwise you have to see this movie!

There is a slight hint of optimism at the end as usual in Houellebecq's stories. It's just too bad I don't really love dancing!

A true anomaly in the French cinema ,this despairing work has no equivalent in the contemporary production.One would rather have to look on the side of Louis Malle's "le feu follet" (1963)(the fire within) to find something not completely unlike Harel's effort.Wry and cynical,having lost all his illusions,the hero ,a computer scientist,has got no more reason to live.Absolutely none.Estranged from the human race,he seems to live his life as some kind of entomologist,studying his colleagues.One of them catches his attention:Tisserand-José Garcia plays the most demeaning part of the decade-.Then Tisserand will become some kind of prey:all his pessimism will rub off on this poor man.The scene is the night-club climaxes the strange relationship:the hero tells his victim that his life will always be unfulfilled unless he.... Well now the movie takes a more conventional turn so to speak (Clouzot's misanthropy maybe)but just for a while.

The form is weird beyond comment There are two voices-over,one for the narrator who always refers to the main character as "our hero",one for the aforementioned hero.The story takes place,now in Paris,now in Rouen ,Guy de Maupassant's town.In a scene with his shrink ,the hero says the writer's madness was only the expression of his disgust for Man and he draws a parallel between his despair and Maupassant's one.

This depressing movie is only suitable for an informed audience.Not for the very short excerpts of X-rated movies,but because after watching it,you may be feeling down in the dumps.