Darkly Noon - Le jour du châtiment

I watched this film yesterday and was pretty blown away by it. It's very much like a magical realist novel in how it mixes aspects of modern life and society with fairy tale mythology and a general dreamlike atmosphere.

The story is basically about a young man named Darkly Noon who has been brought up by religious fanatics and who stumbles upon a weird "family" of three that lives deep in the woods after his parents are murdered. These people consist of Callie, a women who is so beautiful and sensual she's being compared to a force of nature, her mute boyfriend and a third young man. At the beginning Darkly, played by Brendan Fraser who is actually downright awesome in this film, is alone with Callie, which causes a lot of confusion as he's attracted to her and his sexual desires clash with both his religious dogmas and, upon his return, with her boyfriend. There's also a strange old woman living in the woods who claims that Callie is in fact a witch who seduces and kills every man she meets and also accuses her of having murdered most of her family. With that in mind Darkly, who has been continuously mutilating himself to control his urges, decides Callie needs to be punished for her sins against god. Things go very wrong from there...

The Passion of Darkly Noon is a tough film to describe because there really are not a lot of movies that are anything like it. It's part thriller, part dark erotic drama, part supernatural horror and part fairy tale. Now try to wrap your mind around that ... It is expertly and effectively directed by Philip Ridley, who has only directed this film and THE REFLECTING SKIN a few years before it and spends most of his time writing children's books. Which makes sense because DARKLY NOON bears some resemblance to the simplicity of the narratives of children's books. It's just that it goes into extremely dark and adult territory instead of remaining wholesome and family-friendly. The performances by everyone involved are great, Fraser really surprised me with his portrayal of Darkly. The guy once had some promise before he decided to squander it all in ridiculous braindead blockbusters. Ashley Judd, who plays Callie, also does a great job with a very difficult role. Callie is incredibly seductive, naive, playful and almost childlike all at once and Judd pulls it off admirably. Her mute boyfriend is played by Viggo Morensen and he's also good in a role that requires him to convey everything with gestures alone. Special praise has to go to Nick Bicat for a truly haunting score that fits the style of the film and John de Borman's lush cinematography perfectly.

THE PASSION OF DARKLY NOON is the best film I have seen in a long time and a genuine discovery.

This is an unusual film. The summary above does a fair description of the plot, but what it doesn't describe is the air of magic around the forest and everyone's encounters within it. It's hard to describe this, except to say that the film both brings you together with one character's descent into madness while also introducing you to people who seem as though they stepped right out of a story book.

At times, it has the feel of some children's tale of a lost soul wandering through the woods, encountering various odd characters. Some are endearing, some are frightening. The difference is that this isn't a children's tale, and the emotions and imperatives are being experienced by adults, though not always with a mature sense of self-control.

Ashley Judd is both eerily wistful and intensely sensuous as a young lady seemingly without any concept of shame or self consciousness, and deeply in love. Brendan Fraser does a credible job of portraying an inexperienced, painfully conflicted child-man and seems to sweat this tension from every pore.

The Passion of Darkly Noon is an extremely difficult film to describe. For one thing, it doesn't strictly fit any genre, mixing in elements of everything from fantasy to erotica, from thriller to horror. For another, it unfolds in a strange, unconventional and often bewildering fashion. The performances of Brendan Fraser, Ashley Judd and Viggo Mortensen are pretty good, considering that the material they are working with is generally mediocre.

The story finds stranger Darkly Noon (Fraser) being found half-dead in the dense forest near to an isolated cabin owned by young lovers Judd and Mortensen. They bring Darkly Noon back to their home and nurse him to health, but he seems to take an unhealthy liking to Judd, participating in all kinds of voyeuristic activities (such as masturbating aggressively whilst spying on her through a peep-hole).

The film spends an inordinate amount of time trying to create an oppressive atmosphere. It takes place during an unbearably hot summer, much of the action occurs in an impossibly dense wood, and other scenes take place in claustrophobic nearby caves. Clearly the director wants you to feel and experience the oppressive atmosphere as if you are really there. But although this comes across all too clearly, in spending so much effort setting up the atmosphere the film loses out in other significant areas. The characters and the plot don't evolve in any interesting way and remain disappointingly shallow all the way to the end. The action is separated by long, tedious stretches during which nothing much actually happens. The sexual tension supposedly running through the film is frequently neglected in favour of visual flourishes and yet more atmospherics.

The Passion of Darkly Noon may interest those who like the slow-burning Twin Peaks style of drama. As for others, it is not likely to be a memorable experience.

This is a very different film. Beautiful, surreal, it has a dream-like quality with stark echoes of Ridley's equally beautiful "Reflecting Skin". It is an odyssey into a waken dream which is not to be taken as real, but as some kind of fairy tale. Ridley himself is not one of those Hollywood hacks that would be lost without their million-bucks equipment, but a true artist in the noble sense of the word, with a universe of his own (as anybody who saw his "American Gothic" paintings, a direct inspiration to his two films, or his play "Pitchfork Disney" would understand. Experience it for yourself.

I stumbled upon this movie years ago and only recently was I reminded of how great this movie was. Brenden Frasier and Ashley Judd were totally unknown to me at the time so I can't really compare any of their more recent works to this movie, but I can tell you that this movie has stayed with me for more than 6 or 7 years. I can't understand why anyone wouldn't be drawn in to the madness that is Darkly. His innocence alone would pull you in and beg for your compassion. I don't care what anyone else tells you, if you truly love great writing and movies that get to you where no other ones can, then you have to see The Passion of Darkly Noon. It's a dark thriller with a fabulous one-sided love story tragedy. Maybe I'm just biased for emotionally disturbing thrillers with twisted story lines that are not so far fetched that you can't relate on some levels.