A man entertains an illicit relationship with a married woman of great charm. True to his feverish oaths and declarations, he marries her after the death of her husband. The marriage progresses more or less smoothly, until the man begins to suffer recurring stomach pains. The pains seem to follow a disquieting pattern...
As a Belgian, I especially like to review movies with some link to Belgium. Here we've got "The iron staircase", based on a book by Georges Simenon.
It's a modest, intimate little movie most notable for its finely nuanced performances. The tone is sombre, as is the subject matter and, indeed, the ending - don't expect the movie to send you away with a twinkle in your eyes... Even the colour palette is muted.
The movie boasts an interesting female character, in the person of a "bourgeois" wife who really, really, really likes men to flatter and admire her. Her flings with young, passionate men have nothing to do with love, but everything with a debased self-love : she wants to perpetuate her delusion that she is forever beautiful, forever desirable and thus immortal. I'm sure that a lot of real-life criminals work on the same principles.
As a Belgian, I especially like to review movies with some link to Belgium. Here we've got "The iron staircase", based on a book by Georges Simenon.
It's a modest, intimate little movie most notable for its finely nuanced performances. The tone is sombre, as is the subject matter and, indeed, the ending - don't expect the movie to send you away with a twinkle in your eyes... Even the colour palette is muted.
The movie boasts an interesting female character, in the person of a "bourgeois" wife who really, really, really likes men to flatter and admire her. Her flings with young, passionate men have nothing to do with love, but everything with a debased self-love : she wants to perpetuate her delusion that she is forever beautiful, forever desirable and thus immortal. I'm sure that a lot of real-life criminals work on the same principles.
