What a strange, troubling, disturbing, bizarre film. Roberto is a killer, a kidnapper, a thief, and God knows what else. At the same time, several women seem to fall under his spell. Three of them get in his car after they've seen him shoot a guy in the leg. "This film is based on true events". Really? Now THAT's scary... He has an on-off affair with a very innocent-seeming young girl, who eventually wises up to the fact that he's a complete loon. It's genuinely troubling to watch this relationship, as you feel like screaming at her to get away from him, but at the same time you can perfectly understand the attraction. Roberto looks like a hybrid of Vincent Gallo, Dean Wareham, and Satan himself. His hypnotic eyes are enough to convince you that he is capable of serious harm. When the violence erupts in this film, it is shocking and brutal, but the real horror is in the aftermath of his killings, when bodies are found in baths, in barns, and elsewhere. There are also some terrific car chase sequences, which are queasily realistic, and where the cars actually look as if they are being driven by the actors rather than stunt-men. Roberto's jaunt across France is told in a rather fractured narrative style, and at times it's difficult to know exactly what is going on, but somehow the film never loses its vice-like grip on your attention. It is genuinely thrilling and disturbing to see someone like this in action. The ending, when it comes, is bleak and grim. What else could it be? Roberto takes his secrets to the grave. We leave the cinema in a daze, aghast at how the French can come up with movies like this: emotional, provocative, powerful, but never exploitative or sentimental. We are also aghast at human nature, embodied not just in the title character but in those with whom he comes into contact. People are strange.
Review of Roberto Succo
