Le Horla

My teacher in neurology lately brought this film into one lesson. She wanted to show us a typical development of schizophrenia. The main person (the only one in the whole film), performed by Laurent Terzieff, goes over half a year trough different symptoms of this psychical disease. Firstly fever, paranoia, the almost constant feeling of sickness and bad dreams these symptoms increase to hallucinations (acoustic, visual and somatic) and a heavy identity crisis. The actor, supported by the dark, cold and sometimes irritating sceneries, shows us a very good picture of the disease schizophrenia. Mostly you can hear the thoughts of the main person (a sensible, creative and empathic person) that lead you through the film. For all of you that are interested on this disease: Watch it, it really will help you to understand it.

This movie is a command by Sandoz, the famous Switzerland's laboratory, who wants something about drug effects : Pollet has the idea to make an adaptation of "Le Horla" by Guy de Maupassant. Indeed, drug equals paranoia. The Laurent Terzieff's performance is constantly remarkable - he's alone in this film - and the point of view of Pollet is dark, worrying, unstable. It's much more than a curiosity : the private hell of a man who's going crazy for no reasons, except himself. Difficult to see because it's hard to find (especially in USA I guess) but essential regarding the density of Pollet's vision.