Film Review
At first sight, you could be forgiven for thinking that
Brocéliande
is a cheeky parody of the kind of mystery slasher movie that was all the
rage in the late 1970s and early '80s. It certainly has all the right
ingredients - hapless teenagers (of the
Scooby Doo gang variety) being
tormented by a nameless grisly horror with a penchant for visceral murder.
Unfortunately, five minutes or so into the film you suddenly realise this
isn't the case. It's actually intended to be a serious attempt at a
slasher movie.
The film only looks like a crazed genre parody because of the sheer ineptitude
and staggering lack of imagination it throws so carelessly onto the screen.
It looks like a film school project that has gone badly wrong, owing to a
crippling lack of mony, talent and good taste. The sub-juvenile plot
and inept acting are bad enough, but these are minor faults compared with
the clueless mise-en-scène which leaves absolutely no cliché
unturned in an attempt to fashion the most ridiculous display of histrionic
excess you will ever see outside
The Jerry Springer Show.
The man responsible for this cinematic atrocity (which is a very good candidate
for the worst French film ever made) is Doug Headline, otherwise known by
his real name Tristan Jean Manchette. You wouldn't think it (to go
by this appalling debut offering) but he is the son of the acclaimed French
crime writer, Jean-Patrick Manchette, whose best-selling novels -
Nada,
Folle
à tuer,
Pour
la peau d'un flic,
Trois
hommes à abattre - have frequently been adapted for cinema,
with varying degrees of success, by such capable directors as Claude Chabrol,
Jacques Deray and Yves Boisset.
In the decade prior to making
Brocéliande, his first and only
cinematic feature to date, the inaptly named Headline fared somewhat better
with a series of television documentaries on such worthy subjects as Lino
Ventura, Claude Chabrol and Bernard Blier. His one attempt at movie
making may have been a disaster, but he has had some success as a writer,
scripting graphic novels and translating American biographies and novelisations
for a French readership.
© James Travers 2008
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Film Synopsis
On the very day that archaeology student Chloé begins her university
course on Celtic history she senses she is entering a strange and dangerous
world. After witnessing a brutal killing, she becomes convinced that
supernatural powers are at work, emanating from the forest of Brocéliande,
the site of ancient legends...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.