Au coeur de minuit

I was surprised to discover this was really a horror film. I don't know if it's labeled that, but that's what it should be called. It's spooky and creepy and just plain weird. With Jennifer Jason Leigh in the lead, I'm not surprised. She is pretty good at playing disturbed people as she showed later in "Single White Female."

For me, however, the best part of this film was the color. This film had a color palette that was fascinating at times. and the audio was good, too, with creepy sounds to go with the colorfully-painted nightclub/house interiors.

Some of the story left a bad taste in my mouth, just a bit too sordid in spots. With the exception of the social worker, there are no likable, trusting characters in this film. The one who is hardest to figure out is the one played by Peter Coyote.

Yet, despite this not being a particularly attractive story, the haunting audio and visuals keep sucking me back every 5-8 years into this bizarre tale.

Jennifer Jason Leigh plays a psychologically devastated young woman who has inherited an adult club from her recently deceased uncle. She initially remembers only his kindness to her, and wants nothing to do with his past business life. Her goal is to transform the closed building into a dance club and to try to make it on her own. She sets up housekeeping in her uncle's former living quarters, and pays a contractor to oversee the renovation. The film contains some graphic sexual content, but it adds to the horror rather than plays a purely exploitive role. The story is about the irreparable harm caused by abuse and it is a powerful celluloid indictment of sexual predators who leave few obvious physical scars on their victims.

The movie died a quick box office death. It was not designed for the fans of X-rated fun & games, and it was too dark and unsettling for most regular viewers looking for a pleasant night out. Leigh's character is the only role fully developed. Most of the other acting is B-movie quality at best and the dialogue is often wooden. Nonetheless, her performance and the story are good enough to carry the picture.

The story functions best as a psychological horror story and the cinematography contains some truly frightening visual images of things she sees or thinks she sees. These elements work well to underline her insecurity and instability. They also highlight her courage in trying to make it on her own in a world ready to accept that she is merely weak-minded and unable to cope. The script is not at the same level as that of "Spoorlos" or "Sixth Sense," but it is as good as many quality thrillers. There are very few pictures that deal with this subject area in more than an oblique way and rarely from the perspective of the abused. Give this movie a chance to work. Realism in cinema is hard to find, and this is an imperfect but realistic exploration of a difficult topic.

'Heart of Midnight' is an unusual, bizarre thriller. Jennifer Jason Leigh, in her trademark weird roles, plays an emotionally disturbed young woman who leaves home after a bout of extreme instability and tries a spat of independence upon inheriting her mysterious uncle's strange nightclub and home. But, cheerful Uncle Fletcher is not quite the endearing relative that the young woman remembers as she discovers more and more things about the house--many rooms designed for some weird sexual fantasies.

After an attempted rape, the young girl alerts the police who become involved in an investigation. Well, actually, one man does. Claiming to be a police detective from internal affairs investigating the death of one of the culprits, killed when fleeing the police who had arrived on the scene. But, the detective is not who he seems, and the young woman's paranoia becomes increasingly more unbearable for her and those who around her. The game of cat and mouse introduces a bizarre psychological thriller, although a doubtful one at that when it seems that the young woman sees hints of another presence in the house, but can't convince others of the same, never having enough evidence to make such claims credible.

The movie is especially bizarre, given the motives of those responsible for bothering the girl. The viewer is given little backstory on the uncle and his strange habits are eluded to only through what evidence the woman also receives. What are all of these rooms for? What was her uncle like? And so forth. Just as the girl's own background is strange, the viewer experience everything with such suspicion and to some extent, revulsion, as she does since we only get as much detail as she does. It is done stylishly so, at least as far as visual efforts, but may be for a certain audience. For those who enjoyed the early 90s noir thriller, Liebstraum, you might enjoy this less sophisticated, but equally odd tale of suspense.

I have seen this movie many times over the years. It's just the right genre of creepy for me, interesting old place the girl inherits full of old clothes, etc., it has that grandma's attic feeling about it. A little Psycho, a little sixties scary-movie feel. Then the psychological twist gets folded in, along with a nice little romance and good acting. This movie is not formulaic overall, when you consider that it's almost impossible to make a scary movie of any kind that hasn't been done before. Sure, familiar elements are there, but even though the setting is modern for the period, it has a bit of a Gothic feel to it. If you like suspense and a creepy plot without the gore, this is for you.

Can't see why this movie has gotten such low ratings. For a thriller movie, not my favorite genre, it was really good. Maybe watching it at 3 AM muddled my critical sensibilities, but from where I was sitting, Leigh nailed every line in the film, and she was totally convincing and sympathetic. Did anyone else out there appreciate the classic slight-of-hand approach to the "paranormal" the film took, as well as the serious issues it raised? In my opinion, a scary movie has to include something real to be scared about. Monsters and boogymen just don't do it for me. Not that that there weren't a few "aaaaaghh!" scares in this film, there were [the medicine cabinet scene scared the hell out of me!], but it was the movie itself, not any specific spooky part, that gave me the heebie-jeebies.

I don't know. Maybe my tastes aren't as exacting as they used to be, but I'm not afraid to say I think this was a damn good film. So there!