I don't know about you but I go to the cinema - and the theatre for that matter - primarily to be entertained. Okay, if you want to wrap a message INSIDE the entertainment that I'm free to pick up on or not then fine, no problem and even if you want to get me to think a little again no problem, providing you give me JUST a little help along the way, but when you allow the camera to linger forever on something meaningless like an expanse of ocean, or jump about in time for no apparent reason or let peripheral characters come and go with little or no explanation then that's when you start to lose both me and any good will I might have taken into the auditorium. I accept that Clair Denis is a respected filmmaker and an academics darling - she's the subject of a major article, largely on the strength of this movie, in the current edition of Sight and Sound and it's hard to get more precious than that - but that don't mean squat if you're not accessible, dirty word though that is in some circles. If you think Peter Greenaway ISN'T a joke then this film is for you; take it, please.
Review of The Intruder
