C’est arrivé près de chez vous (1992) - film review

Ben is a young man who gets on well with his parents, has a steady relationship with his girlfriend, enjoys a good social life – and he is also a serial killer.  His friends follow him around to film his exploits as he carries out his murders, using every technique at his disposal...

Black comedy is rarely as black as in this notorious Belgian film by the then unknown director Rémy Belvaux.  Made on a shoe-string budget, the film is a blistering (but hardly original) assault on the complicity between the media and real-life violence.

C’est arrivé près de chez vous uses the documentary format very effectively to explore the mind of a truly sick individual as he plays out his brutal fantasies.  Whilst it does so, the film exposes an even greater malaise in contemporary society, namely the extent to which the media and society embraces extreme violence as an acceptable diversion or even entertainment.   The violence portrayed in this film is carried so far that it is anything but entertaining, and many will find the film sickening to watch.

Benoît Poelvoorde’s disturbing portrayal of the killer Ben is initially fresh and effective but, like much of the film, quickly becomes tiresome.  Overall, the film feels overly long and repetitive.  It would have had much greater effect as a 40 minute short, rather than a full length film.  That said, this is a hugely original film which, if you can stomach the excessive violence...

© James Travers 2001

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