I'm going to do something I've never done before. I'm going to leave my original post and then add something to the end of it that changes the entire movie. The added paragraph is in bold, so you can see what has been added to it. Warning some spoilers.
Calvaire, which translates to The Ordeal, is a Belgian psychological thriller about a struggling singer, Marc Stevens, whose car breaks down while trying to make his way to a Christmas show. He finds a strange man walking in the rain looking for his dog, he leads him to an inn that has been closed, but the proprietor quickly gets him settled and promises him a hot meal in the morning. The caretaker, Bartel, tells him he'll look at his car and will make sure he's on the road the next day. This obviously, doesn't happen. That night, the Bartel, an ex-comedian tells the man a joke and then asks him to sing. He also tells him about the love of his life and how she ran away. The next morning Marc realizes something is amiss and within minutes, he's knocked out, wearing a dress and having his head shaved very painfully. We realize now that the old innkeeper is absolutely out of his gourd.
I don't want to give too much a way, but there is a pig fornication scene, a crucifixion scene and of course, there is some Deliverance style man rape and there is the single strangest bar room dance scene you will ever witness. The bloodshed is actually minimal in this movie and there is a scene at the end, which makes you wonder about the men involved. The problem with this movie is that it's a horror movie on the outside, with all the usual "car breaks down on the side of the road" characters, but the message is much deeper. The message is about loneliness. Every character in the film, from start to finish, without one exception, suffers from being lonely and grasping at anything to love. If the movie wasn't so blunt in it's delivery, it could have been a find film, but it fails to allow us to feel empathy for any of these characters and that is a shame, because with a little more character development, it really could have been brilliant. It sadly falls short on almost every level and I don't recommend seeing it, when there are so many better movies on the same subject matter, minus the bestiality.
I didn't like this movie, but I can't get it out of my head. I've been thinking about the entire thing and I think my initial reaction was wrong. I believe now that the the people are the beginning are nothing but thoughts in Marc's heads. An old lady, wanting something she can't have, might be representative of Marc's desire to have his parents back. Pictures later in the film show their importance to him. The woman who comes on to him and sends him pictures of herself naked, might be nothing more than his mind's desire to have physical love, but being afraid for some reason we don't understand. I also think the entire village and it's inhabitants, including Boris are nothing but reflections of Bartel's mind. There are little clues throughout telling us that nobody every really relates to each other. Also, if you watch the final scene, Marc does something selfless to someone he has never met, which seems odd. Previously, he flees the home with almost too much ease. There is also a biblical message throughout and Marc, in many ways represents something greater. The return of love, where it has disappeared. Two visions of crucifixion are presented in the movie and while abused, Marc's freed of what binds him once he has been nailed to the cross. The more I think about the movie the deeper it is and it might be something I will have to go back to.
Calvaire, which translates to The Ordeal, is a Belgian psychological thriller about a struggling singer, Marc Stevens, whose car breaks down while trying to make his way to a Christmas show. He finds a strange man walking in the rain looking for his dog, he leads him to an inn that has been closed, but the proprietor quickly gets him settled and promises him a hot meal in the morning. The caretaker, Bartel, tells him he'll look at his car and will make sure he's on the road the next day. This obviously, doesn't happen. That night, the Bartel, an ex-comedian tells the man a joke and then asks him to sing. He also tells him about the love of his life and how she ran away. The next morning Marc realizes something is amiss and within minutes, he's knocked out, wearing a dress and having his head shaved very painfully. We realize now that the old innkeeper is absolutely out of his gourd.
I don't want to give too much a way, but there is a pig fornication scene, a crucifixion scene and of course, there is some Deliverance style man rape and there is the single strangest bar room dance scene you will ever witness. The bloodshed is actually minimal in this movie and there is a scene at the end, which makes you wonder about the men involved. The problem with this movie is that it's a horror movie on the outside, with all the usual "car breaks down on the side of the road" characters, but the message is much deeper. The message is about loneliness. Every character in the film, from start to finish, without one exception, suffers from being lonely and grasping at anything to love. If the movie wasn't so blunt in it's delivery, it could have been a find film, but it fails to allow us to feel empathy for any of these characters and that is a shame, because with a little more character development, it really could have been brilliant. It sadly falls short on almost every level and I don't recommend seeing it, when there are so many better movies on the same subject matter, minus the bestiality.
I didn't like this movie, but I can't get it out of my head. I've been thinking about the entire thing and I think my initial reaction was wrong. I believe now that the the people are the beginning are nothing but thoughts in Marc's heads. An old lady, wanting something she can't have, might be representative of Marc's desire to have his parents back. Pictures later in the film show their importance to him. The woman who comes on to him and sends him pictures of herself naked, might be nothing more than his mind's desire to have physical love, but being afraid for some reason we don't understand. I also think the entire village and it's inhabitants, including Boris are nothing but reflections of Bartel's mind. There are little clues throughout telling us that nobody every really relates to each other. Also, if you watch the final scene, Marc does something selfless to someone he has never met, which seems odd. Previously, he flees the home with almost too much ease. There is also a biblical message throughout and Marc, in many ways represents something greater. The return of love, where it has disappeared. Two visions of crucifixion are presented in the movie and while abused, Marc's freed of what binds him once he has been nailed to the cross. The more I think about the movie the deeper it is and it might be something I will have to go back to.
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