Ce jour-là (2003) - film review

When she consults her runes Livia, a beautiful but insane young woman, is promised the best day of her life.  The day starts well enough when a homicidal psychopath, Emil, escapes from an asylum and takes refuge in Livia’s sprawling country house.  But then Livia’s scheming family, headed by the patriarchal Harald, decide to kill Livia for the vast fortune she has inherited from her mother.  One by one, Livia’s family members infiltrate her country house, intent on murder.  One by one, they end up dead, despatched by Livia, Emil or Fate.    The chief of police, Raufer, has been warned of these events but decides to let matters take their course.  After all, this is Switzerland...

After some disappointing attempts to widen his repertoire with genres which do not play to his strengths, director Raoul Ruiz makes a welcome return to the kind of film which he truly excels in: the surreal black comedy.  Ce jour-là is classic Ruiz, a film that is original in every sense of the word.  A remarkable cast, which features some of the most respected actors in French cinema, adds greatly to the film’s artistic appeal and its entertainment value.  Feeling like an odd synthesis of Chabrol and Buñuel at their best, Ce jour-là is both a well-observed satire on the Swiss bourgeoisie (indeed, Swiss life in general) and a surreal, macabre fairytale in which one’s notion of good and evil is masterfully subverted.

Bernard Giraudeau and Elsa Zylberstein are both excellent as the film’s two principal characters.  Giraudeau clearly relishes his role as a chronically diabetic serial killer; although his performance is so over-the-top that he risks going into orbit in a few places, he succeeds in bringing a sense of realism and depth to his part.  It is a pleasure to see this talented actor find his feet in such unfamiliar territory as this.  As the film’s heroine – a mad fairytale princess who makes a habit of smashing craniums with DIY equipment – Elsa Zylberstein is perfectly cast and complements Giraudeau’s rough animalistic portrayal of insanity à la perfection.   It is a subtle variation on the Beauty and the Beast tale, albeit with far more dark irony – and with considerably more theatrical blood.

Whilst just as anarchistic and tongue-in-cheek as Ruiz’s previous expeditions into the black comedy genre, Ce jour-là is altogether a more sophisticated and complex film than the Chilean director has previously attempted.  It is possible to enjoy it at its most basic level,  an off-the-wall farce, particularly if Grand Guignol comedy murders is your thing.

© James Travers 2004

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