A student nurse Isabelle suspects a mysterious surgeon Dr. Philipp who basically lives his life in the hospital day and night, is responsible for a series of accidents that happen during surgery and the disappearance of a female patient.
While watching the opening 15 minutes you'll be thinking this is going to be an incredibly well made thriller, but actually, while it does look superb and very slickly done, it was just too bad that the actual story didn't follow the same suit. The lack of surprises and the familiar pattern of the plot really did seem to hurt it. Gee, I really wanted to love this film, but no matter how hard it tried to enthral and to be clever, you'll keep on thinking this could've been a whole lot better and more original if it didn't derail itself into recognisable territory halfway in and become rather repetitive. But like I typed before it had some subtle nightmare feel within its appearance. It just haunts your mind! The sterile hospital setting was made to great use. It was incredibly cold, and disquieting, especially during the night sequences when most of the startling moments pop up. Most of the film took place there and it was eerie as hell! But also the tantalising score that's smoothly enticing gave it a strikingly menacing aurora, but still somehow pulled you in. There was such just such a great sense of dread created. Plus nudity and flesh was depicted rather graphically within it's material, for some it might be erotic, or for others rather sleazy.
The performances were decent. Laurent Lucas is truly unsettling as Dr. Philipp and Sophie Quinton brings a naive persona to Isabelle. You really do care for her and despise Dr. Philipp. There's also some okay support roles that add to the film. The down side was there was such a carefree approach, which made it rather monotone to sit through. Sure, this is a slow psychological thriller, but really it does goes on for far too long. What makes the momentum drag is that is falls into many different clichés and familiar patterns, sometimes nothing really was happening at all. During the first half your caught up in the mystery of Dr Philipp, which played on the things we don't see, but the in the second half all of this change and the mystery was starting to wore thin. But it's the third act where things kind of go pear shape. Things start to get all arty, disjointed and tried to hard to be clever in its context. I didn't mind the downbeat, but bizarre ending. It's just I didn't know what it was trying to come across as, or imply by it? From what I grasp the plot is about making your own fate or maybe it's story which plays on people' fears nah, it's actually about freaking people out of staying overnight in a hospital, but then again that's just my thoughts. I just didn't think it was that smart as it was trying to be. Although while watching it, how the film played out and certain touches, Hitchcock does kind of ring a bell.
Overall, this French thriller just left me feeling indifferent. Looks great, highly atmospheric, but I can't say the same about the story.
While watching the opening 15 minutes you'll be thinking this is going to be an incredibly well made thriller, but actually, while it does look superb and very slickly done, it was just too bad that the actual story didn't follow the same suit. The lack of surprises and the familiar pattern of the plot really did seem to hurt it. Gee, I really wanted to love this film, but no matter how hard it tried to enthral and to be clever, you'll keep on thinking this could've been a whole lot better and more original if it didn't derail itself into recognisable territory halfway in and become rather repetitive. But like I typed before it had some subtle nightmare feel within its appearance. It just haunts your mind! The sterile hospital setting was made to great use. It was incredibly cold, and disquieting, especially during the night sequences when most of the startling moments pop up. Most of the film took place there and it was eerie as hell! But also the tantalising score that's smoothly enticing gave it a strikingly menacing aurora, but still somehow pulled you in. There was such just such a great sense of dread created. Plus nudity and flesh was depicted rather graphically within it's material, for some it might be erotic, or for others rather sleazy.
The performances were decent. Laurent Lucas is truly unsettling as Dr. Philipp and Sophie Quinton brings a naive persona to Isabelle. You really do care for her and despise Dr. Philipp. There's also some okay support roles that add to the film. The down side was there was such a carefree approach, which made it rather monotone to sit through. Sure, this is a slow psychological thriller, but really it does goes on for far too long. What makes the momentum drag is that is falls into many different clichés and familiar patterns, sometimes nothing really was happening at all. During the first half your caught up in the mystery of Dr Philipp, which played on the things we don't see, but the in the second half all of this change and the mystery was starting to wore thin. But it's the third act where things kind of go pear shape. Things start to get all arty, disjointed and tried to hard to be clever in its context. I didn't mind the downbeat, but bizarre ending. It's just I didn't know what it was trying to come across as, or imply by it? From what I grasp the plot is about making your own fate or maybe it's story which plays on people' fears nah, it's actually about freaking people out of staying overnight in a hospital, but then again that's just my thoughts. I just didn't think it was that smart as it was trying to be. Although while watching it, how the film played out and certain touches, Hitchcock does kind of ring a bell.
Overall, this French thriller just left me feeling indifferent. Looks great, highly atmospheric, but I can't say the same about the story.