Sheitan (three and a half stars)
Director Kim Chapiron Writer Christian Chapiron, Kim Chapiron Stars Vincent Cassel, Olivier Bartélémy, Roxane Mesquida, Nico Le Phat Tan, Leïla Bekhti, Ladj Ly, Julie-Marie Parmentier Certificate tbc Running time 94 minutes Country France Year 2006
Some French youngsters leave a nightclub (we get a glimpse of a record called Sheitan on the DJ decks) with one of them wounded after an argument with the bartender. A sexy young girl (that more than one of the boys in the group is after) suggests going to her place - a farmhouse in the countryside. They are broke, and steal food and petrol on the way. When they get there, it's daylight. They lark about in a field with some goats, including an iconic-looking black goat, before Housekeeper Joseph meets and greets them. So far we have little indication of what sort of movie we are getting into, beyond a few hints that the easily-offended should have left before their curfew.
Racist and sexist jokes went through a phase where it was unacceptable to use certain words, but then the award winning British TV show, The Office, pushed boundaries by making politically incorrect jokes in a self-conscious, squirming way. Suddenly it was OK for tell these gags if you simultaneously showed how offensive they were. Sheitan starts doing this with its 'Chink' and 'Camel Rider' references that many of the leading characters find odious. What else? Sex and horror? The standard Hammer-Horror formula of nubile women, sexual innuendo and scary monsters was frequently toned down when American slasher films put limits on the amount of sexuality. Not so in France. And why not? Images of sexual repression mesh well with frighteningly Freudian dreams and should be fair game for filmmakers.
I don't want to suggest that this gross-out film is high art - it's not - but it is refreshing to see a movie where the story has free rein to include any sort of repulsive symbolism, from a crazy, high libido woman getting sexual with a dog (when the human object of her desire rejects her advances), to an encounter with a Muslim women whose fears are given nasty vent in a practical joke involving large amounts of insects. A serious criticism of many horror movies is that women were more frequently portrayed as victims; while has some mileage, it is important to distinguish routine treatment of women-as-victims from graphic exploration of psychological themes. Fear of sex, compounded by fear of rape, or compounded (in either sex) by religious suppression of sexuality, are valid topics for the artist exploring these issues, and such examination may even further understanding on a deeper level.
Sheitan leads us into a dark and nasty story of satanism by something of the back door. We are confounded by familiar American-Pie -style pantie-sniffing humour and a wave of French, adrenalised joie-de-vivre, propelled at maniacal speed and an outstanding performance by Vincent Cassel as the grinning housekeeper. His character is a remarkable accomplishment. Offputting, looking a bit like the ugliest of the goats, but exuding a camaraderie and hospitality which the guests find hard to refuse, even when he suggests hot-spring skinny-dipping that challenges not only the youngsters sense of possession towards the girls with them, but their homophobia when the rather Pan-sexual (if you'll excuse the pun) Joseph teams up with one of the lads that seems (sexually) the weakest or least dominant of the group.
Arguments between the Christians, Muslims and atheists over dinner give Joseph the opening he needs to get the subject onto his favourite topic, while the give-away tip-offs in the name of his dog, the Chucky-like preparations of his pregnant nutter wife, and his getting all protective over basilisks should give an inkling of what might be to come. (This subtly hints at how the western-style Devil is a creation of religion, specifically Roman Catholicism.) The sight of the nauseating Joseph slobbering over his wife before she gives birth may have turned your stomach too much to pay attention, but Sheitan, for all its flaws, deserves to become a cult favourite.
The rather psychotic ending feels a bit of a mish-mash but, if you keep your eye on the girl at the centre of it all, you can make some kind (or various kinds) of sense of it. Sheitan is one of the cleverest late-night nasties of recent years and is worth more than the fast food you may vomit up if you have the temerity to eat first.
Director Kim Chapiron Writer Christian Chapiron, Kim Chapiron Stars Vincent Cassel, Olivier Bartélémy, Roxane Mesquida, Nico Le Phat Tan, Leïla Bekhti, Ladj Ly, Julie-Marie Parmentier Certificate tbc Running time 94 minutes Country France Year 2006
Some French youngsters leave a nightclub (we get a glimpse of a record called Sheitan on the DJ decks) with one of them wounded after an argument with the bartender. A sexy young girl (that more than one of the boys in the group is after) suggests going to her place - a farmhouse in the countryside. They are broke, and steal food and petrol on the way. When they get there, it's daylight. They lark about in a field with some goats, including an iconic-looking black goat, before Housekeeper Joseph meets and greets them. So far we have little indication of what sort of movie we are getting into, beyond a few hints that the easily-offended should have left before their curfew.
Racist and sexist jokes went through a phase where it was unacceptable to use certain words, but then the award winning British TV show, The Office, pushed boundaries by making politically incorrect jokes in a self-conscious, squirming way. Suddenly it was OK for tell these gags if you simultaneously showed how offensive they were. Sheitan starts doing this with its 'Chink' and 'Camel Rider' references that many of the leading characters find odious. What else? Sex and horror? The standard Hammer-Horror formula of nubile women, sexual innuendo and scary monsters was frequently toned down when American slasher films put limits on the amount of sexuality. Not so in France. And why not? Images of sexual repression mesh well with frighteningly Freudian dreams and should be fair game for filmmakers.
I don't want to suggest that this gross-out film is high art - it's not - but it is refreshing to see a movie where the story has free rein to include any sort of repulsive symbolism, from a crazy, high libido woman getting sexual with a dog (when the human object of her desire rejects her advances), to an encounter with a Muslim women whose fears are given nasty vent in a practical joke involving large amounts of insects. A serious criticism of many horror movies is that women were more frequently portrayed as victims; while has some mileage, it is important to distinguish routine treatment of women-as-victims from graphic exploration of psychological themes. Fear of sex, compounded by fear of rape, or compounded (in either sex) by religious suppression of sexuality, are valid topics for the artist exploring these issues, and such examination may even further understanding on a deeper level.
Sheitan leads us into a dark and nasty story of satanism by something of the back door. We are confounded by familiar American-Pie -style pantie-sniffing humour and a wave of French, adrenalised joie-de-vivre, propelled at maniacal speed and an outstanding performance by Vincent Cassel as the grinning housekeeper. His character is a remarkable accomplishment. Offputting, looking a bit like the ugliest of the goats, but exuding a camaraderie and hospitality which the guests find hard to refuse, even when he suggests hot-spring skinny-dipping that challenges not only the youngsters sense of possession towards the girls with them, but their homophobia when the rather Pan-sexual (if you'll excuse the pun) Joseph teams up with one of the lads that seems (sexually) the weakest or least dominant of the group.
Arguments between the Christians, Muslims and atheists over dinner give Joseph the opening he needs to get the subject onto his favourite topic, while the give-away tip-offs in the name of his dog, the Chucky-like preparations of his pregnant nutter wife, and his getting all protective over basilisks should give an inkling of what might be to come. (This subtly hints at how the western-style Devil is a creation of religion, specifically Roman Catholicism.) The sight of the nauseating Joseph slobbering over his wife before she gives birth may have turned your stomach too much to pay attention, but Sheitan, for all its flaws, deserves to become a cult favourite.
The rather psychotic ending feels a bit of a mish-mash but, if you keep your eye on the girl at the centre of it all, you can make some kind (or various kinds) of sense of it. Sheitan is one of the cleverest late-night nasties of recent years and is worth more than the fast food you may vomit up if you have the temerity to eat first.