I found this French film because it used to feature in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, it was rated average by critics, but it sounded interesting, so I was intrigued, directed by Chantal Akerman (Jeanne Dielman, 23 Commerce Quay, 1080 Brussels). Basically, Simon (Stanislas Merhar) lives in an apartment with his grandmother (Françoise Bertin) and his girlfriend Ariane (Sylvie Testud). He follows Ariane every day watching where she goes and what she does, to see whether she is lying to him about her activities. Simon is often controlling, but Ariane submits to his ways. It seems he is only capable of having intercourse when she pretends to be asleep, but she lets him do so. However, Simons becomes jealous of Ariane's friendships with other people, including a woman he suspects she is having an affair with. Unable to let go of his jealousy he asks her to move out of his apartment. Ariane agrees to leave Simon and he drives her to her aunt's house where she plans to move. During the drive they discuss what they consider love to be. Simon admits he believes love is impossible without knowing everything about the other person while Ariane disagrees and says he is unable to access thoughts and feelings like she can. When they arrive at the aunt's home, Simon is unable to let her go and begs her to come back with him, to which she agrees. On the way home they stop at a seaside hotel. While Simon goes to order food, Ariane has disappeared, and he is left alone. Simon believes Ariane has committed suicide by drowning herself in the sea. Simon dives into the water to try to find her, he is rescued by a boat and brought back to shore without Ariane, it is never revealed what happened to her. Also starring Olivia Bonamy as Andrée, Liliane Rovère as Françoise, Aurore Clément as Léa, Anna Mouglalis as Isabelle and Bérénice Bejo as Sarah. Merhar gives an interesting almost quiet performance as the obsessive rich young man, and Testud does alright as the young woman who seems to follow almost anything he says, I have to admit the first half of the film, with the creepy controlling stuff was interesting, it slowed in the second half, but a reasonable drama. Worth watching!
Review of The Captive
