Persécution

"Persecution: active, systematic mistreatment of an individual or group by another group or individual."

After watching "Persecution", you might just wonder who is really persecuted: Daniel, the short-tempered main character, stalked by a stranger who claims he's in love with him, Sonia, Daniel's girlfriend with whom he argues frequently and can hardly connect, or simply the spectator. Watching a film like this is anything but a treat: unlikeable characters, stark settings, ugly photography, it is French "psychological" cinema at its worst. I don't have a problem with Chéreau, I understand he makes films for an adult and educated audience. Some of his daring choices (as in "Intimacy" for instance) are challenging but interesting, at the very least enough thought provoking to get something out of them. Unfortunately, "Persecution" is a pretentious and overblown piece of work, as if Chéreau gradually became more and more full of himself over the years to eventually forget one essential thing: the audience. "Gabrielle", released in 2005, was already a "stiff" and dry film, well played and well directed, yet haughty and cold. As Chéreau's works get more and more personal, spectators are more and more kept at a distance by the filmmaker. The problem is that films are made for an audience (even if it's not a broad one), not just for the pleasure of wasting money. When artists create works that not only have no appeal for most of the people, but also have seemingly no clear purpose, I believe they lose the sense of reality. I assume that is what happened to Patrice Chéreau, who has proved with other films that he is more than an able director. I don't mind watching a film where the main character is complex, obsessive and quite unlikeable (remember "Naked" directed by Mike Leigh). I don't mind watching wordy films (I've had my share of Woody Allen's and Eric Rohmer's flicks). But I resent films where I am left out, where the story has nothing to catch my attention. Romain Duris (who plays Daniel) is as convincing as a home renovator as Gérard Depardieu as a nun but is very good at getting on everyone's nerves, including the spectators', Charlotte Gainsbourg as the aloof girlfriend is remarkably dull, Jean-Hugues Anglade's intriguing character is sacrificed, secondary characters are not fleshed out as they should have been (poor Hiam Abbass has only a few lines to say). Even what would have been interesting leads were given up by Chéreau (for instance, we never know whether the stalker's character is a figment of Daniel's imagination or not, and that could have added an uncanny touch to "Persecution"). At its worst, the film is extremely repetitive when things begin quickly to stall. In spite of a good opening scene, I couldn't care less about what was going to happen to any of the characters. In other words, I never felt that "Persecution" was a movie really worth my time.

Persécution is a hard movie to describe accurately. It's the story of Daniel (Romain Duris), a loft renovator in Paris. Daniel is inordinately important to the people in his life, whom he mostly treats with what seems like hostility.

He has an unstable relationship with his very independent girlfriend Sonia (Charlotte Gainsbourg). A stranger (Jean-Hugues Anglade) begins to stalk him, although in extraordinarily creative ways and without any threat or malicious intent. But the details of the plot really don't matter much. It's not really a story; it's an experience.

This (like every earlier Patrice Chéreau movie I've seen - which are only L'homme blessé (which starred Jean-Hugues Anglade in his luminous youth), Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train, and Son frère, but they're three of the most memorable movies I've ever seen) deeply challenges its audience in ways other directors' movies never do.

It's impossible to watch a Chéreau movie without a completely open mind, free of every normal expectation: that you will understand it, that you will be able to empathize with ANY of the characters, that you will even know whether you like it or not.

Chéreau, either intentionally or unintentionally, ALWAYS made movies that force the viewer to surrender control, to step outside everything familiar, to go wherever he leads without questioning where or why. Watching a Chéreau movie is more life-changing, more consciousness-expanding, more iconoclastic than entertaining.

I LOVE that kind of challenge, I LOVE that kind of movie, and only Chéreau ever demanded so much from an audience. If you don't WANT to be challenged like that, if you don't WANT your mind and your world shaken to their foundations and rebuilt by someone else, then don't bother watching this amazing movie. You'll hate it.

99 minutes of suspense and contrived plot twists, yet I felt no resolution or even clarity at the end. This could have been a really powerful story, but there were too many roads taken that led to nowhere.

Patrice Chéreau is an astonishingly daring artist. Not only did he completely change the manner in which Wagner's ''Der Ring des Nibelungen' was staged in a contemporary fashion (he also has revolutionized the opera world with many bizarre but ultimately creative productions) but he continues to stymie the film audiences with his strange, difficult works such as 'Intimacy', 'Those who love me can take the train', 'Son frère', and 'Queen Margot'. Here he directs a script he co-wrote with Anne-Louise Trividic called 'Persécution' that nearly defies understanding. But rather than that being a reason to avoid the film, it is a challenge to the intellect - because somewhere inside this film there is a philosophy that seems to be very important to grasp.

Daniel (Romain Duris) renovates lofts and houses in Paris and carries on a strange relationship with a traveling successful young girl Sonia (Charlotte Gainsbourg). Daniel is disturbed, usually in a foul mood, and has a love/hate moody relationship with just about everyone including Sonia. Daniel cares for a friend Michel (Gilles Cohen) whose presence in his life seems to mean little except the need to be protected. He seems to have other friends such as Thomas (Alex Descas) with whom he spends nights in the pub with Sonia. Into Daniel's dreary life enters a stranger (Jean-Hugues Anglade) who claims to be in love with Daniel: the relationship is pugilistic and it is unclear as to whether this unwanted stranger is real or a part of Daniel's psyche. Daniel and Sonia have an on again off again relationship - her job takes her as far away as Philadelphia on business - and these recurring periods of separation strain their relationship, as does Daniel's new preoccupation with the stranger. Daniel's only other 'job' is volunteering at a nursing home where he cares for the elderly: in a rare moment of insight Daniel shares with Michel that his father moved to that retirement home when his mother died, separating the father/son relationship. How the story evolves and resolves is the mystery left to the viewer.

There are many fine moments in this film that utilize the talents of such superb actors as Hiam Abbass (the great Palestinian actress from 'The Lemon Tree', 'The Visitor', 'The Syrian Bride' etc) and Yannick Soulier. The problem with the story is that there is very little to like about Daniel, Sonia, or Michel. Rather than a story, the film seems to be about how an individual can be driven to strange behaviors by self-imposed persecution, but that is only one viewer's idea. This is a challenging film, one that requires much thought - as well as much patience....Grady Harp

It had to happen at some point: a review of a movie I did not like! It's my job to also present you movies you should not watch and tell you the reasons why... There I was, in my favorite DVD store, when I saw this French movie I haven't heard of before. The mysterious and intriguing cover with 3 very good actors (Charlotte Gainsbourg, Romain Duris, Jean- Hugues Anglade) and such a powerful title caught my eye and I thought I couldn't go wrong. Oh little did I know... This movie was both a waste of my time and money. I won't even bother watching the bonus DVD. What happened to the movie? Did the editor think he knew better and deleted the end of it thinking we would be clever enough to guess what this is about? Was it a poor screenplay to begin with? How come such actors signed up for it... Were they that desperate to pay the bills? Surely, the editing just changed the whole story... Right? The worst part of Persecution is that you do not get bored watching it because you are sure that the tension between the characters will end up being explained by a final twist. The suspense builds up when Daniel (Romain Duris) confesses at the kitchen table that his grandfather... went to church everyday! Jesus, what a twist! For 100 minutes you are evolving in a gloomy Parisian atmosphere but Romain Duris overplays and he becomes soon enough extremely annoying. You leave the room not knowing if Daniel is bipolar or has a douchebag disorder that forces him to treat people like fecal matter. This movie sure is independent and European and somewhat artsy but it forgot one essential thing: making sense!

1 reason NOT to watch: Uh... There is no end!(?)