DEL wrote: It just made me wonder at the mentality of those who made it. I couldn't find it enjoyable. I mean I like a bit of violence & gore as long as there's some dark humour in there somewhere. But Martyrs doesn't have that.
Martyrs is supposed to be like that, not enjoyable at all, totally humourless, an assault on the audience itself (like the unbearable scene where the guard keeps punching the prisoner - he's actually punching the viewer). And as such, it succeeds 100%. But it has an aesthetic aspect to it, and that's interesting.. and of course the whole theme, which is revealed in the end.
About the mentality of those who made it: I actually met the director, Pascal Laugier, and he told that he was depressed when he made the movie (something to do with a broken relationship IIRC). He's not a sicko or anything, a civilized man (even speaks excellent English even though he's a frenchie!), but it seemed he had seen all the sickest movies out there from The Men Behind the Sun to Philosophy of a Knife, so he has a deep interest in morbid things. He heavily opposes exploiting/killing animals for movie making, which some directors are doing to get the audience feel uncomfortable/scared. Laugier achieves the same level of sickness with more ethical and subtle methods. Cool guy, I hope he gets financial backing for his new projects and don't have to make Hellraiser remakes
Btw, his earlier film, The House of Voices (Saint Ange), is made in a similar style, except without the in-your-face violence - it's beautiful and controlled, the acting is good, but it doesn't really achieve anything special except right in the end, with some scenes that remind a lot of Martyrs. Can't really recommend that film (neither does the director
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cools wrote:
Wasn't a great film. I enjoyed it up until the halfway point, but when the main character simply changed from gutsy to pathetic without so much as a whimper, merely accepting their fate - I lost interest.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0856288/ is a far better movie.
And despite its reviews - Grotesque is actually hugely entertaining because it's so ridiculously funny.
I think that Martyrs is a great film. Even went to see it twice in the cinema, which I've only done like 4 times ever. Inside (À l'intérieur) started out spectacular, the music, the atmosphere, it was a totally unique experience, BUT to my great disappointment it degenerated in the end to common splatter and lost all credibility. Still a very good film, but it could have been so much more.
Frontiere(s) is total crap, IMO, nothing to do with real movies like Martyrs and Inside or Haute Tension (another good French horror).
Grotesque is .. well, I saw it once (dvd-rip) and concluded that it's an honest and evil little film without any other message than that the Japanese still know how to produce sick stuff. And now I'm going to see it again in a cinema, so that probably makes me a sick fuck...
. I studied her face during the most tormenting moments and her face was pure white like the blood had been drained from her body.
