Film Review
Cages is a remarkable debut
feature from Belgian filmmaker Olivier Masset-Depasse, who had
previously distinguished himself with two short films,
Chambre froide (2000) and
Dans l'ombre (2004). It is a
love story like no other, darkly poetic in its portrayal of an
obsessive passion that transcends the familiar cinematic approaches of
eroticism and melodrama. A film that manages to be both
impressionistic and expressionistic through its individualistic
camerawork and design,
Cages
conveys the awesome power of romantic love with such blistering
intensity and realism that you cannot help being totally absorbed by
the story it tells.
It helps that Olivier Masset-Depasse has the support of such talented
actors as Anne Coesens and Sagamore Stévenin, who throw
everything into their performances. Coesens is
extraordinary in her portrayal of the woman who has lost the ability to
communicate with her partner. The frustration and anxiety build
to a crescendo as her character fights to save the one thing that she
holds dear, but in doing so risks losing it forever. Even though
she has next to no dialogue, Coesens succeeds in conveying the anguish
and rage that consume Eve and propel her on her desperate
course. Meanwhile, Stévenin shows us the other side
of romantic love, the gentler, more subtle side that ultimately saves
the relationship and helps Eve to recover all that she has lost, but
only after a terrible long journey into night.
Original to the point of weirdness, but never losing its sense of
reality,
Cages is one of
those strange films that bobs around in your head long after you have
seen it. It has strange echoes of Jean Genet's
Miracle of the Rose and Jean
Cocteau's
La Belle et la bête (1946),
yet it has a lyrical quality that is unique to itself. The most
enduring image it offers - of the naked Damien shackled helplessly to
his bed, completely in the power of his adoring Eve - is a potent
symbol for the most mysterious and potent of all human
relationships. We are reminded that romantic love is
more than the fulfilment of our deepest desires. It is a
kind of prison into which one
blithely walks and from which no one can escape easily and
intact.
© James Travers 2009
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Film Synopsis
Eve and Damien live a passionate love affair that is so intense, so
solid that it feels as though it could last for an eternity. But
then disaster strikes. Eve, a paramedic, is seriously injured in
a road accident. Her physical injuries are superficial but she
remains in a state of shock, unable to speak for long after the
accident. Damien, the owner of a thriving bar-café,
becomes so frustrated with not being able to communicate with Eve that
he begins an affair with another woman, Léa. This is
more than Eve can bear. Using her medical knowledge, she takes
Damien prisoner in the hope that she can make him understand how she
feels. Just how far is she prepared to go to revive the
love that had once filled both of their lives to excess...?
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.