Rating: D
Dir: Karim Ouelhaj
Star: Eline Schumacher, Benjamin Ramon, Hélène Moor, Wim Willaert
In hindsight, I should have popped over to the IMDb and checked out the synopsis there. Because a big red flag would have been this sentence: “A film about the weight of patriarchy and the illusion of Manichaeism.” That might have been enough to get it quietly deleted from my Tubi watchlist. In the film’s defense, I may have been watching a cut version. I’ve seen running times listed for it around 118 minutes; the Tubi version appears to match the one on Shudder, and comes in around 105. On the one hand, whatever was removed may have reduced its impact. On the other, it still feels roughly a hundred minutes longer than I would have preferred.
Although vague on specifics, it appears to be the story of Martha (Schumacher) and Félix (Ramon). They are the fictional (presumably) children of a very real serial killer. The Butcher of Mons killed and dismembered five women over an 18-month period in Belgium between 1996-97, before suddenly stopping. They were never caught. But in this version, his son Félix is carrying on the family tradition. Daughter Martha is barely functioning, plagued by health issues and working a menial job as a cleaner in a factory. She’s harassed by her co-workers, a situation which escalates to sexual assault. Martha is lonely, and requests a “pet”. Quotes used advisedly, since rather than a puppy, what Félix provides is an abducted woman (Moor). Yeah. It’s not going to end well, is it?
That is not exactly a spoiler. It’s clear from the very opening scene that Ouelhaj is intent purely in wallowing through the darkest parts of human behaviour and nature. This occasionally involves some moments of stylish visual shenanigans (top). But it mostly involves Schumacher pulling aggrieved faces at everyone, in lieu of a performance. As a character, Martha seems to have no agency of her own, being a psychological punching-bag for her brother and a literal punching-bag for her rapey colleagues at work. This must be the “weight of patriarchy” thing they mentioned. From this viewer’s perspective though, it’s a slog. Between the occasional bursts of only slightly shocking violence (though as noted, the version may be a factor), it is all pretty damn chatty.
Things come to a head after Martha invites her attackers round for dinner. In a spectacular display of idiocy, they accept. I’d say this makes them the dumbest rapists since the guy from I Spit On Your Grave climbed into the bath with Jennifer. You will be unsurprised to learn, this does not end well either. The sole slightly interesting angle is the question as to whether everything – potentially up to and including her brother – is only in Martha’s mind. Do not expect a definitive answer to that either. I was hoping for something along the lines of The Golden Glove. Instead, I got a movie with nothing of real significance to say. But going by the synopsis, it sure has an inflated sense of its own importance.