Lemming on DVD (2005)

Lemming

A customer from Tonbridge , 03/05/2006

The poster got me interested in this film before I knew anything else about it. Put Charlottes Gainsbourg and Rampling in a movie together and I'm there.

Lemming is a tough film to write about because an end of act one twist really shouldn't be revealed. Lets say this. It's a noirish thriller about two couples (Gainsbourg and Laurent Lucas and Rampling and Andre Dussolier) and how their lives intertwine after a dinner party that goes badly wrong and it has a vein of comedy of the blackest kind.

The performances are all stunning. It's Rampling you'll really remember though, she's got the smallest role but from the minute she enters frame, making the temperature drop with a single gaze and a chilly turn of phrase, you can't take your eyes off her. She effortlessly steals every scene she's in, making you wonder what on earth she'll say next. Even into her 60's Rampling, never the most traditionally beautiful of actresses, oozes sex appeal and the edge of sexual tension she brings to her role also pays off in spades, making you think the plot will develop in a completely different way than it does.

There's also a wonderful turn from Gainsbourg, perfect casting in that she seems Rampling's polar opposite. She's devastatingly cute and projects a relentlessly sunny demeanour but is able to subtly turn her character, at first you barely notice and then she's completely different and yet the shift seems totally natural.

It's the women you'll be watching but take nothing away from Lucas and, particularly, Dussolier who also give excellent performances with each character becoming more complex scene by scene.

The titular Lemming is something of a distraction but it's about the only thing wrong with Moll's script. The dialogue, though played utterly straight, is often very funny and the twists and tuns of the plot are both surprising and well executed.

It's not perfect. It misses Rampling when she's not on screen and is a bit too long but the performances alone would be enough to recommend Lemming and there's plenty more to enjoy here.

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Intriguing and beautiful French mystery/thriller that is set to be a modern Classic!

Gary Sinclair-Stedman from Plymouth, Devon , 24/08/2006

Lemming is not a run of the mill film. Anyone looking for a traditional mystery thriller may find this too ambiguous but I urge you to give it a go, because it is well worth anybody's time. The story is original and constantly surprising, with great performances from all the actors in roles that are deeply intense and full of nuance. In fine french form, the action is centred on the emotional experiences of the protagonists and shown in close up detail, with plenty of soul searching and pondering over some weighty questions of morality and character. No gratuitous fast action scenes or rushed dialogue here but there are plenty of thrills and surprises, as the plot gently twists and turns to a really surprising and shocking denouement. It seems a tradition in french cinema for the characters to get under your skin and so too here. We are treated to a well judged and fascinating glance beneath the middle class underbelly of modern french society that rivals anything classic french cinema has to offer. Everything goes wrong for a young couple when they discover the titular lemming has surprisingly found itself trapped in their u-bend! It begins a chain of unfortunate events that are both shocking and intensely creepy, and that ultimately culminate to change the lives of the couple forever. The cinematography, performances and a script that really knows how to build tension, gives the whole piece a really classic feel that will stay with you long after the film finishes. I can wholeheartedly recommend this film to anyone who likes good mystery thrillers, french drama generally and particularly the work of such directors as Michael Haneke. If you have seen Dominik Moll's earlier 'Harry, He's Here To Help' you will love this, because it has so much more intensity and smouldering depth of suspense that it is worthy, in my opinion, of becoming a modern classic of its genre. French cinema does not come much better than this.

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people mite like it

A customer from bognor england , 21/09/2006

not my type of film try it and c

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French attempt at Lynch-style drama... fails

Marx from Oxford, England , 24/09/2006

This is a very confusing film, and the fact that all the dialog is muttered in under-the-breath volume doesn't do much for suspense but a lot for irritation. Your French will certainly be stretched. As always subtitles change the way you view the film.

On the whole I feel the author had a good idea but didn't make a lot out of it. Like Lost Highway, this is primarily a film about jealousy and relationship trust, with an older man getting the girl (and the young man taking revenge). It feels like a horror film without the horror (all those long shots of dark rooms and people walking along corridors).

The acting seems very wooden, especially Laurent Lucas, but Charlotte Gainsbourg could have been a bit more exciting, too (maybe director's fault).

The story: gadget-designer lives in middle-class ghetto 'Bel Air' with wife who is taking a break from work - they're seemingly a model couple. When aging gadget-company boss joins them for dinner one night it turns into one of these embarassing evenings of relationship hell as his wife is fed up with their facade of a marriage. She ends up committing suicide in the Bel Air couple's spare room (even they think it's strange when she suddenly shows up a couple of days after the dinner). From then on reality and dream/nightmare (very much a la Lost Highway) seem to destroy the young couple's relationship - housewife starts a relationship with company boss (or so it seems; Lost Highway again), but in the end it's all back to 'normal' for the young couple (the ending is another Lynch-link [sorry, but there really are that many!]: designer-man waters the garden, like Kyle McL at the end of Blue Velvet).

The title animal (a Scandinavian hamster-type - you know the legends about their suicidal tendencies to save their society's survival, but these aren't really true) makes an appearance at the very start of the film, trapped in their kitchen sink pipes, and once it's dead by the end of the film life is back to what it was before - it's supposed to be all methapor for what's about to happen, but it doesn't really work.

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very confusing film

funkywelly from Rotherham , 13/02/2007

I found this film very confusing, there seemed to be no explaination for some of the things that were happenning. Also difficult to ollow when using the subtitles and even if you did know french its a very mumbly film without clear dialogew

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W H Y ?!

Simon James from Cowbridge, South Wales , 10/10/2006

Oh...what an AWFUL film!

Miserable, pointless drudgery (and I'm a Charlotte Rampling fan!), horrible acting, daft storyline. Avoid it at all costs.

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