I Stand Alone (1998) User Reviews

Warning: not for the weak, of body or mind.

[eraceheadd · 8/10 · 24 March 2000]

A brilliantly disturbing film, unlike anything I have ever seen. This is an incredibly detailed account of how a disturbed human mind rationalizes everyday reality. It's like looking right into the mind of a man pushed to the brink, a man capable of anything. The film darkly builds as we watch the main character fall lower and lower, becoming more and more desperate. I love a movie that can capture an emotion so strongly, and this film defiantly grabs you and does not let go. The tension literally drips off the screen making it difficult at times to take, but like a car crash, you can't take your eyes off of it.

Noe's direction is excellent. The pace is slow and methodical and cut up with a surprising sound affect that makes you jump almost every time you hear it. This just adds to the disturbing, uneasy atmosphere that the film creates.

Its a trip that not all people should take, but those of you how are not easily offended, and have a strong stomach and a good eye for art, you should go far out of you way to see this film.

Céline: "Almost every desire a poor man has is a punishable offense."

[Chris Knipp · 8/10 · 27 November 2005]

Gaspar Noë's first full-length film seeks to provide, and sometimes achieves, an elegantly bleak picture of the world through the eyes of a French butcher whose life has been devolving from day one. The film begins as a kind of quick documentary life, narrated over still photos with the voice-over of the butcher, played by Philippe Nahon. From here forward the voice never leaves us, moving relentlessly forward with its declarations of gloom and anger. The narrator's negativism commands our attention and even our respect because of its intensity and clarity. Perhaps this man is just a depressive, a hopeless loser. But his anger and his articulateness command attention and create an irresistible and memorable voice -- a voice quite reminiscent of the writings of Louis-Ferdinand Céline ("Journey to the End of the Night," "Death on the Installment Plan"), who like Noë's protagonist was a nihilist, fascist, and anti-Semite, and likewise shocked with his bluntness of expression. Set in 1980, the story of "I Stand Alone"/"Seul contre tous" may also be meant to reflect the thinking of a certain French underclass of that time whose desperation and resentment toward growing minorities in the country and toward the rich and the liberal bourgeoisie led them to rally behind the far right political leader Jean-Marie Le Pen.

Philippe Nahon is strong in the central role. Indeed one can hardly imagine anybody else playing it. But all the characters Nahon interacts with tend to be little more than static cameos. There are even moments when we are not sure they exist, or when his declarations seem like fantasies, and this uncertainty undermines the otherwise forceful narrative. Unfortunately also the film tends to disintegrate into excess verbiage and alternative finales in its last chapters. The nonstop narration has seemed to work well up to then, but when Noë resorts to an overlapping second voice and approaches the father's sexual violation of his daughter through panning off into the street, the voice-over becomes a wall preventing us from experiencing what's been dealt with and the hitherto blunt manner -- the obscene slangy language and the gun-shot blast divisions of images and the boldly declarative intertitles (Noë is of the nothing-succeeds-like-excess school of film-making) -- comes to seem a bit of a facade. As in the later "Irréversible" it seems as though the director's desire to shock and exploit ingenious and attention-getting cinematic techniques is greater than his willingness to develop a story and characters in depth. Nonetheless there are strong signs of a bold and original talent on display here, and of an independent point of view.

The respected critic Jonathan Rosenbaum went overboard when he classified "I Stand Alone" as a "masterpiece." Noë strives so hard to achieve profundity he dupes himself into the certain conviction that he has achieved it. Whether "I Stand Alone" will stand the test of time is a question only time, not Noë or Rosenbaum, can decide.

The film is not particularly well served by a Strand Leasing DVD providing a slightly blurry print and no extras. The Menu design however is rather handsome.

Watched on Netflix DVD November 2005.

Bitter & Twisted...

[Xstal · 7/10 · 25 September 2022]

Following the life of the most disaffected, disillusioned, alienated, resentful, hostile and unbalanced middle aged man that has ever carried an image on a screen - but is he alone, and can all the factors he believes brought him to this nadir of all nadirs actually be correct, that there was little or nothing to be done, with the cards he was dealt as a child, the hands he had to play during his formative years, set in stone, to fatefully be performed in only one way, as unsatisfying an existence that could ever have walked this earth, beaten by the state, society, its structures and its rules.

You won't come away with a smile on your face, or at least not until you realise that there's always someone worse off than yourself. A painful watch at times, but it comes with the director's territory.

A Stunning achievement.

[Infofreak · 7 January 2002]

'I Stand Alone' goes where few movies dare these days. It presents a portrait of hatred, disgust, despair and nihilism. Many would probably not like to face up to the fact that people like "The Butcher" exist in our society, but they do. By ignoring them we compound the problems they present and represent.

Philippe Nahon plays a middle aged unemployed French butcher who is trapped in a loveless relationship with his pregnant girlfriend (Frankye Pain). She has some money and uses it as a power trip, promising to set him up with a new shop. When that doesn't eventuate he attacks her in a fit of rage, and leaves with a gun and three bullets. He heads back to Paris with no money and no prospects. As he sinks lower and lower into hopelessness his anger intensifies, and his mind races with fantasies of violence and revenge.

This is a confronting and profoundly disturbing movie, mainly because of it's realism and believability. While it certainly features some scenes of extreme violence, and one scene of explicit pornography (blurred in the print I watched), most of what makes it so powerful and horrible is the almost non-stop venomous monologues of "The Butcher". Director Gaspar Noe self consciously apes Scorsese's 'Taxi Driver' in several scenes, but this movie is a truly original vision. Highly recommended for movie buffs with strong stomachs, and the ability to deal with dark and troubling material.

The rage of a proud, bitter, luckless man

[enicholson · 9/10 · 21 July 2002]

This fearless film may or may not be a masterpiece, but there is little about this film that feels false or inauthentic. Many have already compared this film to TAXI DRIVER; but TAXI DRIVER is more of a film about a man that is dragged to insanity by psychotic fantasies he can no longer resist. TAXI DRIVER does, however, share with SEUL CONTRE TEUS a sense of psycho-sexual determinism. The protagonists in both films are at least partly driven by sexual compulsions they either can not control, feel they can not control or badly desire to explore. Both films have memorable scenes that take place inside a porno theater, emphasizing the dominance sex and sexual compulsions have over each of the protagonists (though for different reasons in each of them).

SEUL CONTRE TEUS, however, is less of a film about an inexorable pull toward insanity and instead is more of a film about an inescapable rage -- the rage associated with a fiercely guarded sense of pride that has a strong tendency of violence toward anything that appears the least bit insulting; and a rage that comes from endless feelings of loneliness. The protagonist (known only as "The Butcher," which is his past profession) is consequently very vulnerable to feelings of humiliation and has little ability to make sound decisions in life. SEUL CONTRE TEUS is about the rage of those in the working classes that suffer the pain of a hard childhood, are punished for their crimes that mainly arise out of anger, and endure the humiliation of unemployment and unwantedness -- yet refuse to let the harshness of life knock them down for good. The Butcher refuses to lie down. He wants to fight back at whatever blocks his path. But, like an animal, he chooses his targets arbitrarily and impulsively. Those that he is most threatened by in reality offer little danger; and perhaps could instead offer friendship or even assistance.

The film features an astounding interior monologue that runs like an intensely embittered sermon (told through a voice over) throughout the duration of the film. Many of The Butcher's thoughts are intensely provocative and refreshingly, fearlessly insightful and profound. My favorite is probably the line that says (something like) "there is no revolution anymore; when we are all alone there is only revenge." Valuable lines like this are mixed in with incendiary rants against foreigners and homosexuals -- thoughts and emotions rooted in painfully stubborn pride and bitter humiliation, but which sometimes have the feel of some desperate, lost, apocryphal truth to them.

There are a couple of other qualities this film shares with TAXI DRIVER. For the most part, even though they are quite frightening, the protagonists in both films are sympathetic (though again for different reasons) and even charismatic. Also, both films have extremely violent climaxes that, thematically and psychologically, resemble the male orgasm gone psychotic. The conflation of sex and violence in both films is unmistakably real and psychologically (and perhaps politically) profound. Also, both films feature a twisted sense of redemption at the end (though I will say no more than that for fear of spoiling the endings of both films) -- twisted in the sense that there is a future and not all hope is lost; but it is a hope that is rooted in something unclean and false. I think most people will find the scene of reconciliation and redemption toward the end of SEUL CONTRE TEUS to be remarkably moving (at least until it turns into something perverse).

This film is not for everyone -- that's for sure. If TAXI DRIVER was more than you bargained for, then stay away from this film because this film is even more intense and brutal. But for those of you who desire, or even need, to see a film about the rage of a man who is disenfranchised and dispossessed and is driven toward fantasies and expressions of violence and perversity -- then here it is. This is for you.

sadistically artistic

[smartestjane · 9/10 · 6 June 2003]

Wow, I need to take a shower. This is the kind of film Godard would have made if he'd grown up with THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE instead of THE MALTESE FALCON. Based on this and Noe's new film IRREVERSIBLE I'd say Gasper's got a few issues he's hammering out and he's taking us down into the depths with him. It's a very well made film. He uses one repetitious devise that just about gave me a heart attack the first time it was used. I won't tell you what it is, but I wouldn't recommend this film to anyone who suffers from a hyperactive nervous system. If you have a strong stomach and love great filmmaking, though, I'd definately recommend this artistic, sadistic shocker.

I Stand Alone (1998) ***

[JoeKarlosi · 7/10 · 23 May 2005]

Good, well-directed French film in the vein of TAXI DRIVER, where an out-of-work, 50-year-old butcher slowly begins to lose control with the people and the world around him as he encounters one indignity after another. Unable to find a job no matter how hard he tries, having to contend with abuse from the fat and controlling dominant woman he lives with just because she has a few dollars, facing the burden of having fathered an illegitimate girl who now lives in a home and is unable to communicate, the tensions mount until the butcher is in danger of taking his frustrations out on himself and the miserable scum around him. The butcher's bizarre feelings and motivations are translated to us through what he's thinking, instead of relying on talk.

This is a brutal, honest, powerful movie that pulls no punches and draws the viewer into the mind of the man slowly going over the edge. Many people will be able to relate to feeling as lost and hopeless as he does, at least at some dark point in their lives. Here is a foreign film that succeeds in staying consistently interesting and captivating, despite its not having a plethora of special effects and pretty young teen stars (which so many recent American films seem to require). *** out of ****

A bleak journey in the mind of the deranged. Brilliant !

[NateManD · 10/10 · 30 June 2005]

In the last couple years, french filmmaker Casper Noe has created quite a name for himself. With two full length films that are both extreme and psychologically disturbing. "I Stand Alone" is not as disturbing as Noe's "Irreversible", but it still is a bumpy ride that some people might not be prepared for. The main character is the jobless butcher, who is featured in Noe's other films. The film narrates the history of the butcher's life and all the hardships he has faced. It's 1980 in the film, and the butcher can't find a job. He lives with his whiny pregnant girlfriend along with her mother. The butcher's mute daughter seems to be the only person he cares about. Throughout the film, we hear the thoughts of the butcher, which are angry, hateful and horrifying. He's at the point of a midlife crisis, and wants to now live his life for vengeance. Peace of mind through a hand gun, so to speak. He slowly starts to loose his sanity as he endlessly searches for a job, and is turned down repeatedly. The film is very bleak like "Taxi Driver" and "Bad Luitenant" and psychotically tense like "Clean Shaven". Viewers are even warned before the disturbing finale. Let's just say the butcher loves his daughter a little too too much. Casper Noe takes us inside the mind of a man who's sometimes racist, misogynistic and homophobic but is still sympathetic towards the character's insanity. In fact, I felt so bad for the butcher that the film made me almost cry. It has such poetic emotion. I have to say, "I Stand Alone" and "Clean Shaven" are the two films which portray mental illness the most realistically. I say this because I have suffered with mental health problems since I was young, and have been on many medications. At one point of my life, when I was working 70 hours a week and on two medications, I almost had a similar emotional breakdown like in the film. That's why I can identify with the butcher. The film is so gritty and realistic in it's portrait of insanity. Many people will probably find the finale frightening. "I Stand Alone" is a masterpiece of psychological drama and intensity unlike any other film. Casper Noe just may become this generation's Roman Polanski. I can't even imagine what he's going to do next.

Painful

[m_shamoo · 7/10 · 11 October 2007]

Man, that movie was intense. I saw Irreverisible a while back and just discovered this film. As I tried to rate it I have to admit that if a film effects you in the way this movie just did then there is something to it. I know many people who would be disgusted by this film and simply say they did not like it, it was a "bad movie." The reality is that every movie doesn't have to be uplifting and make you feel good. All I know is that I feel extremely alone and weird at the moment, independent of anything going on in my life. In that way, I think the film did its job. To an extent, the main character is so sick and jaded that one doesn't exactly relate to him or identify with the character. At the same time however, for those of us that don't experience life as rosy and joyous all the time, there is an element of utter pessimism that one can relate to. In a traditional sense, not that much actually happens in this movie. The majority of it is filled with an inner dialogue and scenes of people just sitting around.

I suppose it's odd for me to say that I like this film, but as I said, I think it did its job. The soundtrack was well done and the acting was thoroughly convincing. If you can deal with "depressing" and disturbing movies, I'd give I Stand Alone a shot. If not, rent Big and go to bed feeling nostalgic and hopeful about the future.

Brilliantly pessimistic

[deloudelouvain · 9/10 · 16 August 2015]

This is one of those movies that you will hate or love. And I loved it, I adored it. Most of the movie it's just the narrating pessimistic voice of the butcher about the sad life he's living, about how he sees the world in his mind. The butcher, brilliantly played by Philippe Nahon, is sick of this society and he let's everybody know. Most of the time you can only agree with his vision, with his vision of sheep of society that we are. The narrating voice, the random crazy characters, the vulgarity, the cursing, everything is blended together and it works perfectly. I think Gaspar Noé did a great job with Seul Contre Tous. It might not be everyone's cup of tea but it sure was mine. I definitely will watch it again in the future.

Most disturbing movie..!! (Adult)

[kamalbeeee · 7/10 · 23 September 2020]

The movie runs from a hopeless man perspective...mostly it speaks truth and he taken steps with ruthless... Must watchable with patience...!!!

A brilliant, brutal, searingly intense, thought-provoking debut from Gaspar Noe

[grantss · 9/10 · 19 April 2016]

A brilliant, brutal, searingly intense, thought-provoking debut from Gaspar Noe.

The story of The Butcher, a working-class man whose entire life seems to be one of bad luck and bad breaks, some of which are his own doing. After trouble in Paris he moves north to Lille, hoping to start a new life. However, unfortunately for him, his luck doesn't change. With every bad break he becomes more bitter and looks for someone to blame - the people involved, society, the wealthy, the government, the country. With every disappointment his thoughts and intentions become darker and darker.

A brutal examination of a person on the fringes of society, someone who could easily exist and does exist. Quite Taxi Driver-like in that the central character sees the evils in the world, and wants to right them, though their anger is often misdirected, their methods unsound and themselves hardly bastions of morality.

The plot is largely driven by The Butcher's internal monologue, which is very direct, candid, stream-of-consciousness and uncensored and accurately displays exactly where the man is in his life. While much of his inner thoughts are the rantings of a bitter, dejected person, one can actually see how he could feel that way, and even agree with him in some respects.

Incredibly intense and director Gaspar Noe ramps up the intensity as the movie progresses. The tension in the last few scenes is off the charts.

The conclusion does a bit of the shine off the movie, as it turns what was a satisfactory, heart-warming conclusion into something a bit perverse and creepy. Ending the movie one scene earlier might have made for a better ending. However, in some ways, this is very consistent with the plot - our "hero" is certainly no saint.

Incredible movie, but not suitable for children, those faint of heart and the easily offended.

Arthouse Film with a Strong, but Heavy Handed Message

[Reviews_of_the_Dead · 7/10 · 18 August 2019]

This was a film that I'm going to be honest, I had never heard of. I have seen the writer/director Gaspar Noé's other films so I was intrigued as I believe this is first, if not, one of his first movies. Wasn't necessarily sure what I was going to get coming in though if I'm perfectly honest. The synopsis is a horse meat butcher's life and mind begins to breakdown as he lashes out against various factions of society while attempting to reconnect with his estranged daughter.

We are given a voice-over of the life of a Le Boucher (Philippe Nahon). It is kind of a tragic story of how his parent's conceived him and how he lost everything. He had his own butcher shop, but one day his daughter who is mute had her first period. She tried to walk to his shop where a man came on to her. Her father thought he raped her and he stabbed the man to death. This sent him to prison and he lost his business with his daughter going to a institution.

Once he gets out, he takes a job in a bar that is run by Sa Maitresse (Frankie Pain). They end up becoming a couple and she is with child. She decides to sell her bar and move to another city, using the money to buy a shop for Le Boucher to open up a new store. She refuses to pay for the lease though as she feels it is a bad deal. Le Boucher goes down a path where Sa Maitresse and her mother, Sa Belle-Mere (Martine Audrain) belittle him or at least he thinks they are. He is beaten down by what they say. He finally snaps and tries to make his own way, but it isn't easy for a 50 year old man with a criminal record and no money.

Now I decided to go a little vaguer on the recap here, as there's not a lot that really happens. We are really watching this man as he goes down this dark path. The film has a voice-over from Le Boucher and there's actually not a lot of dialogue. It's giving us his thoughts on things and to be honest it is really depressing. I was thinking about if this was a horror film or not while watching it. To be honest, in the normal sense it's not. I'll get into why this definitely can be considered horror with some of the things that are happening. When it comes to Noé, he doesn't make films in the traditional sense as he's very avant-garde.

The first thing to cover is that I felt bad for Le Boucher. His life has really been a struggle and he hasn't had a lot of good things that happen to him. The mother of his daughter, Sa Fille (Blandine Lenoir), left him due to her affliction. He is doing his best and the real big issue is that he has anger issues. He snapped when he thought something happened to his child. I can't fault him for getting revenge there, but it was done to someone that didn't do what he thought. The rage he went into was in error. He really just wants to be able live a normal life, but he doesn't have the breaks needed to do so.

That actually moves me into the next point. This movie is looking at class as well. Le Boucher is talking about how the rich get whatever they need. They can commit the crimes he has, but because they have money, they can get away with it. He on the other hand has to be careful. Whatever he does he will be punished for. There's not a lot of money to be had around him and that includes jobs. Even those that he is friends with can't help him as they barely have enough money for them. This is a bleak way of looking at life and is heartbreaking if I'm honest.

Le Boucher does do some things that I really despise him for as well though. That is something that I really have to commend Noé with. He has created a character that was I pulling for, but then he reveals things about his character that make him despicable. He attacks his pregnant girlfriend; he makes some racist comments toward a black person, he makes homophobic comments and what he wants to do with his daughter. I really liked to be challenged when watching a film, but it really made me despise him. Part of it is though that he is lashing out after being broken by life, which I get, but it is hard to pull for a guy with some of these things.

I want to move next to the soundtrack of the film. To be honest, I really didn't notice it outside of a scene where he hitchhikes and the guy puts on a real upbeat house-like music. I thought that scene was fun. I had a major issue with the film which was due to the voice-over narration that we get throughout. I don't normally hate it, but here it really just dominates everything. I think the film could have shown us a bit more instead of just giving his inner thoughts the whole time. Noé is really going for giving us a morality tale and making us think, but it's a bit heavy handed with how it is presented. I like it a bit more subtle.

This film really only runs about 90 minutes, but because of it being told to us mostly, I think the pacing is hurt by it. I will say that it does build tension. That aspect of the film is good and I could feel as things get worse, Le Boucher is running out of money and he has to turn to crime to survive, I start to wonder what he'll do. The ending has something that I didn't care for and seeing how it actually ends is kind of disgusting. It really does question morality. The question is also there, do we hate him for what he's going to do, but is it living in the low income area make it more acceptable?

Something I didn't have an issue with was the performance of Nahon. He is really the only character we see for the whole film. I think he did a lot with facial expressions. He visits someone who tells him he looks rough and he does. Definitely a man who has been beaten down by life and I do have to say is sad. The rest of the cast does round out for what is needed.

The last thing to cover would be the effects, which are really good. Noé has a way of using practical effects that makes you question if what you're seeing is real or not. I know that it's not, but if you can make me think it is, you're doing something right. The ending sequence definitely does it and it is great. There aren't a lot of effects outside of that sequence. I do have give him credit for the film is shot as well. He really captured how dirty both cities we are in, which is crazy because one of them is in Paris. It is also fitting that he is talking about World War II and how his father died in a death camp. They're in a ghetto for all of this film, but not like ones during the war. I really think he is saying something there with the mirroring of the war and life since.

Now with that said, I did enjoy this film and I think there's a really good message here. Trying to question the morality of someone who you feel bad for while also despising for some of the actions they're taking. This is a film that really makes you think. Would I necessarily call this a horror film? Not in the traditional sense, but we are watching an avant-garde film from someone who doesn't do things conventional. It is extremely bleak and the things that happen can be quite horrific in the terms of society. I do think that the voice-over narration is a bit much and makes the message he's going for a bit heavy fisted. I think Nahon performance was really good and his look just fits the character. There's not a lot in the way of effects, but the final sequence have some of the most real ones I've ever seen done practically. It is also shot very well and capturing the grittiness of the areas it is taking place. I don't love this film; I think that it's really good. I would say that overall I think it is above average for me.

Another cliché...

[xrefusedx · 1/10 · 29 May 2008]

I seriously don't get it how movies from this type can get so much appreciation in a site like this where it is supposed that most of the users have some culture, knowledge or taste for art. Alright, I admit it was shot and directed in an interesting and intelligent way but I'm not a damn movie critic or something, I still watch movies for my own pleasure and not to follow if this or that is done according or not to some rules which people spend years studying. However, what bothers me is - damn I just don't get it why every 8 of 10 European movies I get to watch has to be about violation, pedophilia, incest, misery, criminality. The people behind those productions (I'm not quoting names because I haven't watched that big number of movies to judge exactly persons or productions) pretend to be original, underground, but don't realize showing kiddy genitals, women with psychic issues raped by each actor just isn't underground, original, unique. It is just another cliché which they created trying to avoid another ones from the 'commercial' videos.

Get real people, Europe ain't disgusting you are trying to present it. And even if there's some truth in your movies it is too exaggerated to influence the viewers in other way than bore them. Because you know, we've seen too much of this crap already.

A brilliant, manipulative assault on viewer sensibilities.

[TheVid · 15 February 2002]

This is Gaspar Noe's deliberately disturbing film of one man's resentment of his own life. It's a highly cinematic monologue of malevolence by a volatile, middle-aged protagonist. The film's brilliance comes from the daring moralism it projects right up to it's startling conclusion. Without giving anything away, this is a mean-spirited, convincingly fiendish love story that sadistically gives it's audience a 30 second chance to leave the theater before things get resolved. A absolutely terrific monster movie for mature audiences only!

A truly disturbing Masterpiece!

[villewebster · 9/10 · 16 May 2018]

What Gaspar Noé created with "Seul contre tous" is almost impossible to put in words but I'll try it anyways. (Instead of writing about the already well known Story and the Characters, I want to let you guys know how "I Stand Alone"/"Menschenfeind" made me feel throughout its 89 minute run without putting too many spoilers....if any)

At first I didn't really pay attention to Noé's debut since I wasn't the biggest fan of Irreversibel. Don't get me wrong, I liked how it was filmed and how Noé played with a lot of avantgarde and art elements but in the end I have seen it as nothing more than a In-your-face Artmovie with interesting ideas. After reading multiple reviews about Seul contre tous I finally decided to watch it, but before I wanted to see "Carne" (the short that takes place before Seul contre tous) and I was absolutely surprised on how good it was, how twisted and how incredibly weird on such a "realistic" level it was. It's an understatement to say I was hyped for the highly controversial and kind of infamous Seul contre tous.

But let's talk about my experience with it. Right when I clicked play I figured out that it's going to be bad in the best possible way, the overall tone is dark from the beginning and the way the camera and the sound are used adds a lot to the avantgarde note of Seul contre Tous. The introduction of the main character is how it needs to be, right when we see and hear The Butcher we know that he could be anyone, from your hard working Neighbor to your best friend. Philippe Nahon does an amazing job portraying that totally degenerated guy that seems so normal to his outside world, he's so good that you lose yourself seeing and hearing him, it's a constant conflict between understanding and hating him, between judging him and hoping he'll find his good side (even though that hope leaves pretty fast). And that is why I love Seul contre Tous, it's not about a super villain that wants to destroy the world, it's not about a hero that fights his inner demons but it's also not about a cold blooded murderer, it's about a desperate and angry sicko that is about to break lose and even though he's stuck in a relateable situation, what he makes out of it, is what makes him one of the most sinister characters I've ever seen.

If you want to see something new, intelligent or evil this is your movie!

Incredible film from Gaspar Noe. Powerful, disturbing, unique, important and won't leave the viewer alone.

[Bogey Man · 10/10 · 17 May 2002]

This film from French film maker, Gaspar Noe, is true piece of art and is so full of message, content and cinematic elements that it will definitely not leave the viewer alone after the first viewing no more than after the future viewings. The butcher is living in a hell as his life has been destroyed, he has lost almost everything and all the people around him are bad, bad and even more bad and wicked. The butcher does not have a reason to live and continue his life among this filth. He has only one thing that has kept him alive and given him power and little motivation: his retarded and institution based daughter. What follows during the movie's running time is a plethora of cynicism, hate, disgust and depravity presented in a methods of cinema.

The film is full of more than dark visions of humanity and society in which nothing is kind or likable and everyone is selfish, evil and worth nothing. The people around the butcher are stupid, mean spirited and know nothing about loving and caring, and the whole vision of life and world is one of the darkest I've ever witnessed in film. Similar experiences among cinema are Pier Paolo Pasolini's Saló o le 120 Giornate di Sodoma, Buddy Giovinazzo's Combat Shock, Scorsese's Taxi Driver and T.F Mous' extremely hard to take Men Behind the Sun. These films are similar in theme and all are very hard to take (and understand, for most of the people) and powerful experiences. Why are things this way? What is wrong with us, that the world cannot be safe and warm place to live, and why there is a need for suicide and death. Why can't the world be such a place that everyone wants to live and no one tries to kill and finish someone other's life? These mentioned films (and similar films which I didn't mention) are perhaps the most important there is because they punch even stupid people right on the face and grab their attention and show the real faces of things. Seul Contre Tous is a kind of film, which may change people's attitudes and ways of living, and that is probably the greatest achievement a film maker can reach with his work.

The methods and cinematic magic used in Seul Contre Tous is something never before seen. The editing (extremely ominous), the gun shots at the soundtrack, the monologue by the protagonist, the little amount of actual dialogue, the use of colors and the texts appearing in the screen and the warning at the end are something that I had never seen before and they totally blew me away and left me speechless. How can a movie be this effective? It won't leave you alone and it appears again and again in your mind days after the watching. Last time, in my case, I felt such a "cinematic punch" when I viewed Darren Aronofsky's superb and incredible A Requiem for a Dream, which is similar in effect with Noe's film. The answer for the question how art/movie can be this powerful is of course the talent in these film makers, which so often and sadly tends to be neglected because of Hollywood mainstream productions and the large entertainment business. But it does not matter, because these artists can work and make films despite what mainstream thinks and prefers. I think that these mentioned films are almost as effective and perfect as any movie can be. It doesn't matter what large audience thinks because all they want is to have fun and eat pop corn, and they would not understand a bit about these important movies.

There is absolutely nothing optimistic in this film, although the end scene is not as pessimistic as the rest of the film (and is actually even optimistic), but I naturally won't spoil how this one ends. The end sums the director's conclusion and the butcher's conclusion and despite the viewer being totally numbed with realistic terror at that point, it forces to think and think hard. There is a way towards brighter and better world and as far as there is a will to help, alter and love, there is also a way to do it and express it.

I want also note that this film is definitely not for a casual viewer as this is so hard to take due to its extremely nihilistic attitudes, thoughts and imagery (both violent and sexual) so these challenging elements are too much for most of the people so don't even try to watch, if you feel uneasy with difficult and depressing material. I hate to read "reviews" from people, who have seen this and having understood nothing about it, they only abuse and express their loathing for the film, without even trying to understand its real points and merits. This is always the case with art cinema and especially "difficult" art cinema, because people usually don't want to interpret and don't want to think during a movie and after it. This is not entertainment, so mainstream fanatics/popcorn eaters stay far away!

And for last, but definitely not least, I want to mention one particular element which is one of the most original and unforgettable I've ever seen:

*A slight spoiler ahead*

Before the notorious end scene and "bursting" there is is a warning which says that there is 30 seconds time to leave the theatre..At the same time, a the butcher speaks and indicates that what will happen and what is his conclusion. And then, the end scene begins and there is no chance to get out of theatre anymore...It has to be experienced because it gives so ominous and powerful effect to the film and to what will follow. And what follows is really shocking and inconsolable. The scene itself is brutal in mental but also in graphic way but is never gratuitous or needless.

*no spoilers anymore!*

That end scene reminded me of Takashi Miike's incredible masterpiece Audition which also has one of the greatest endings and disturbing moments in the history of cinema. Audition and Seul Contre Tous are very different films in content, but both share the magnificent talent and use of cinematic techniques and both are very important achievements for their makers.

I hope that this writing doesn't sound too praising and I have tried to make this as closely argued and explained as possible. Seul Contre Tous is Gaspar Noe's masterpiece and I hope that he can continue his work in this field and make more this kind of personal, provoking and definitely challenging cinema.

10 bright stars for Seul Contre Tous and its creator, the great artist Gaspar Noe.

compelling, but with a bad aftertaste

[Jonny_Numb · 6/10 · 13 August 2005]

"I Stand Alone," the debut feature from renowned French shock auteur Gaspar Noe ("Irreversible") is a film that's pretentious, caustic, tedious, and also strangely compelling. It could very well be the most bitterly misanthropic film most viewers will ever see, but whether that's a good thing is questionable. Noe's tale follows a middle-aged butcher who's spent time in prison, has an extremely short fuse, and is currently trapped in a forced relationship with a female bar owner pregnant with his child. The Butcher, played with a steely humorlessness by Philippe Nahon ("High Tension"), is a man incapable of feeling anything but hate for his fellow man (indeed, his only reason for keeping by his girlfriend's side is the hope that she will front the money for him to lease a butcher shop, which she doesn't). As a comment on class war and bigotry, the film is relentless in its overbearing bleakness (all of France is presented as a run-down warehouse district where most citizens are on welfare), brought to an even lower level by our protagonist's relentlessly hateful and homicidal thoughts; through the ticker-tape subtitles playing underneath what is usually a bland, uneventful scene, we get a window into the psychoses of a man driven to the edge. Noe interestingly ties afflictions such as racism, homophobia, wealth, and sexuality into the emasculation of this man, whose life has become meaningless as a result of the rotten hand he's been dealt.

The sound-cued, momentary blackouts, the title cards reading "Justice," "Morality," and "Living is a Selfish Act," and the camera moves accompanied by the sound of a gunshot are at first irritating and pretentious, but eventually merge with the rhythm of the film to become another extension of the Butcher's psychoses. Nahon casts an imposing figure, and portrays his unappealing character with a grace that is strangely endearing; by the time he is molesting his mute, mentally-handicapped daughter in the motel room where she was conceived, we accept his actions without excusing them. The departments where Noe falters--aside from the burgeoning hatred that grows oppressive--is the ersatz uplift of the climax, which feels like a cop-out. Additionally, the way certain lines of dialog--despite their ghastliness--veer into unintentional humor seems to illuminate Noe's pretentiousness (some early scenes with supporting characters who ham it up in TV-sitcom fashion, doesn't help). Overall, "I Stand Alone" is a showy art-house production with a clear intention to provoke its audience, but ultimately works due to its own grim merits.

Unexpected, Disturbing, Powerful Comments on Modern Life.

[hakaneray · 10/10 · 4 July 2019]

This is NOT your average "movie night with the family" movie, therefore i would not suggest "I Stand Alone" to anyone without an "Open" mindset. Gaspar noé gives us a fast paced, disturbing yet intriguing movie with very rich comments about real-life concepts such as: morality, equality, freedom, fullfiling desires, existantial crisis. I Stand Alone bears similar vibes from "Taxi Driver" and "A Serbian Film", which makes an interesting combination to watch. 10/10

I Must Be Missing Something...

[EVOL666 · 6/10 · 28 February 2006]

Gaspar Noe's (of IRREVERSIBLE fame...) I STAND ALONE is neither very violent nor all that "disturbing". I don't know if I saw another film than what some other reviewers have seen - but this film really wasn't all that outstanding at all. Admittedly, I am amongst the few who felt IRREVERSIBLE was highly over-hyped and unremarkable also - and I STAND ALONE was no different to me. I applaud Noe for tackling "rougher" subject matter - but I always seem to leave his films feeling like something is missing. Although Noe likes to explore the "darker side" of life in his films, something about them just seems hollow and unfulfilling to me. I wish I could put my finger on what specifically it is, but I can't. Philippe Nahon's performance as "The Butcher" was admittedly very good, but the film as a whole just seemed way too long and became tedious and dull...up until the ultimately unfulfilling "climax"...

"The Butcher" is a guy who's had a pretty rough life. Due to all the sh!tty cards he's been dealt, he starts to snap and meditate on all the bad and disappointing things in his life and around him. He basically hates everyone and is ready to take it out on the world - the problem is - he never does...

I was expecting a strong "lunatic-on-a-rage-spree"-style film - maybe in the realm of FALLING DOWN or TAXI DRIVER (which this film pays obvious homage to...) but with stronger subject matter. Unfortunately, I STAND ALONE did not deliver. The film is almost entirely told in monologues from within The Butcher's mind, and although they are almost comical in their extreme nihilism, it gets old after the first half-hour or so. Nahon DOES give a very strong performance as a down and out, but still proud, blue-collar worker that is quickly losing his mind - but he is pretty much the only redeeming factor of the film. I think this film would have had MUCH more impact as a 30 minute-or-so short film, but at 90 minutes, it just drags on for too long. I've been waiting to see this one for a long time, and I have to say I'm honestly pretty disappointed. Worth a look for Nahon's performance - but I STAND ALONE is not the "disturbing, nihilistic-bloodbath" that I was lead to believe and was expecting...6/10

Psychotic mania 101

[K-nightt · 10/10 · 23 January 2010]

Many, many spoilers here!!!! It took me over 2 years to watch this film after having purchased it. I had seen Irreversible, and was actually afraid of seeing this movie because of not knowing what to expect. Anyway, I loved it. It rings so true to the thoughts of most of us... truly, we see in his racing thoughts the angry mentality that takes over us when the social structure conspires to crush our spirits. Unemployed, in a relationship with an ugly demanding woman (who has furthered the walls around him by carrying his child), away from the only person he loves (his daughter), aging with nothing to show for it, flat broke, and immersed in a system only preoccupied with appeasing the rich and ostracizing the poor. Of course it generates anger, and the blame definitely needs to be attributed to someone. Now, in the case of our friend, he shows very strongly how information overload leads to stagnation, it almost becomes a matter of survival for him to turn life into something monochromatic, some action of his must be undertaken in order to effectively change. Playing the game according to the system has failed him. The movie has a lot of inner dialog, and if you're like me and don't speak French, you will be reading very quickly. This definitely reflects the manic state he is in; he concretely projects his aggression into external objects, and takes action accordingly (seen when he kills his unborn child still in the womb). It unravels into a psychotic state when he becomes delusional about what he needs to do in order to save himself and his handicapped daughter. They must both die so they can truly be free, so they can truly fuse as one. At this point an advisory notice comes onto the screen, stating you have 30 seconds to leave the screening. This is definitely anxiety-provoking for anyone. What follows is definitely disturbing. His daughter is shot from behind, the bullet hole piercing through her neck and she lies on the floor writhing, bleeding from the orifice, resembling the slaughtering of a cow or horse (the image that came to me was of the horse at the beginning of Carne), and he as well states that animals usually die faster, and he can't stand to see her suffer like that. The analogy to irrational beasts is more evident with the fact that she does not speak, thus contorts and dies as a nonverbal creature would. The concreteness of his outside projections becomes more limited, and he decides killing the man who didn't give him a job was less important than carrying out the main plan. In essence, by reenacting his past profession (and thus the definition of his life) in that moment, he literally kills off the 2 key aspects of his existence to date with the 2nd shot (he destroys the image of the slaughtered contorting animal, which he can no longer stand to watch; and he kills his daughter, his link to happiness, and the only thing truly keeping him in this world). Thus, she is shot in the head. He deliberates for a long time before turning the gun on himself and committing suicide, thus destroying the 2nd part of his psyche, the castrated version of himself that no longer has any real reason to remain alive. Eventually we see this was all engendered by his imagination, and he decides to seek the so-called fusion with his daughter in a sublimated form, having sex, a more attractive alternative which also allows psychic survival. After this, there is something of a reverse Oedipal role, she is the mother-figure consoling the crying baby, and the boundaries of the forbidden incestuous relationship are shattered, thus he can find peace. All in all, an excellent film. Don't compare it to Irreversible, they have exceedingly distinct messages.. there do seem to be allusions to it (many references to tunnels) as well as to Noe's new film in the mentioning of the great void of death. Highly recommended, this man is a genius.

Hard-to-watch film creates mixed feelings...

[gridoon · 7/10 · 2 April 2003]

I've seen this film twice already and I'm still ambivalent about it. On the one hand, Gaspar Noe obviously belongs in the "it-provokes-a-reaction-therefore-it-is-important" school of filmmaking; on the other hand, he has, as a director, full command of the medium - he WANTS to provoke a reaction from the audience (positive or negative, it probably doesn't matter to him), and he knows how to accomplish that. The movie is admirably unflinching in the way it portrays human desperation and degradation; you're not asked to like the main character or to identify with him, but you DO come to understand some of the circumstances that have led him to such bitterness against the world ("You have a home, a family, a car; after 35 years of hard work, I have nothing"). However, the ending of the film (or rather the way a very grim and sad ending is presented as if it's a glimmer of hope) is just plain vile. (**1/2)

Vauge summary of my thoughts revolving the film.

[aforeginer · 8/10 · 29 May 2014]

This is the 3rd Noe film I've seen, and like it's earlier films it left me with this bitter, depraving, yet fascinated impression. It's an intense film, stylistically shot, filled with inner dialog of the protagonist all the way through. The interesting part to me is the way the protagonist was like most of the time. A good story doesn't need a likable protagonist. this man is a misogynist, homophobic, racist, aggressive being. Pretty much what goes as not likable in my book, but at the same time I had my moments of pure empathy. That's what art should be about,people being people. And that's the greatest beauty of the film. SPOILER: The ending of the film really stirs it all up pretty well. Where we go from one of his "Taxi Driver esque" fantasies where he kills his daughter and himself, a very shocking film in itself, to a truly heartbreaking scene where he tells how much he loves his daughter. Then I get reminded of the incest part, leaving me off real confused of what to make of it. I will also draw another line with the killing of the baby earlier in the film and fantasies of killing his daughter later in the film. "Living is a selfish act. Surviving is a genetic law."

Taxi Driver's long lost brother

[Smells_Like_Cheese · 6/10 · 19 September 2010]

One name I've been hearing about lately in the world of film is Gasper Noe. Many people have been calling his films the most disturbing pieces of work they ever saw and he is one of the most walked out directors of all time. I've seen disturbing film, but with all the hype surrounding his films, I just had to see them. It's interesting that Gasper Noe says that Stanley Kurbrick was his inspiration, because I Stand Alone is very much like Taxi Driver, more like it's long lost brother. A man who is so resentful of the world, had the bad hand dealt to him and of course wants to deal it back to anyone. While I think we need dark movies in cinema to balance out all the "…happily ever after" endings, this one was very bland and only stayed on one street. Where Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver had more people who could understand his position and where he is coming from, The Butcher from I Stand Alone starts off hateful and never stops. The film is an hour and a half of his hateful words and some violent scenes. I don't mind dark themes at all, but I Stand Alone seemed pointless and didn't have a proper closure.

Orphaned at a young age and subsequently abused by a priest, The Butcher opens a butcher shop and fathers an autistic daughter with a woman who leaves him because it isn't a boy. On the day of her first period, he sees blood on her skirt and stabs an innocent man who he thinks raped her. He is sentenced to prison and forced to sell his butcher shop to a Muslim, and his daughter is put in an institution. He gets a job working for a woman who owns the tavern he used to be drink in. She seduces him, and she becomes pregnant. She sells her business and moves to northern France with him, promising to purchase a butcher shop. The Butcher hates his life with his overbearing, overweight mistress. She backs out of her promise to open a butcher shop, forcing him to take a night watchman job at a nursing home. He snaps and punches his mistress in the belly several times, then steals a pistol and flees. The Butcher determines to feel no guilt and return to Paris to find his daughter and try to survive the bowels of France.

I Stand Alone did have a strong lead role with Philippe Nahon as the Butcher, he manages to carry the movie well and really becomes his character. He almost had me thinking what he's like in real life, how could someone take a role like this and not become him? As for the hype around this film on how violent it is, it honestly wasn't as bad as I was expecting. While it's certainly nothing to watch for someone with a weak stomach, there is a moment where the director gives you 30 seconds to stop watching the film because of the ending. The ending is disturbing, but the way I was expecting was like it was going to be the king of twisted movies, let's just put it this way, I've seen much worse. But one of the things I did appreciate from Noe is his film style, he has a way of making the audience feel uncomfortable, he knows that this film is not going to be easy on the viewer and he doesn't want it to be, he does these sudden camera movements and loud thumps that keeps you very alert. Knowing that at any moment The Butcher is about to loose his mind and conscience, makes you keep your eye on the screen at all times. I don't think that I Stand Alone had a message, it doesn't stand out to me as anything more than a man who is angry with the world and wants it to rot. I admire Gasper Noe's edginess and he's fearless when it comes to putting the truth on screen, but for this movie, it just didn't seem that special to me.

6/10

a pathetic movie

[Rigolax · 1/10 · 24 September 2001]

"Seul Contre Tous" is a useless movie. A movie that made me sick, a movie that deals with pure hate, and nothing else. Pessimistic, stupid, violent, incredibly vulgar and really ill-directed. Obviously, Gaspar Noe forgot all about his knowledge of cinema. Everything is spoilt (except for the bleak color that's really well done), the text is astoundingly loathsome, slack and redundant, just like the movie itself; the graphic violence is emphasized and really useless (and fictive within the story itself, moreover!), and the gunshots all along are annoying. Gaspar Noe tries to draw the portrait of capitalism, misery and mankind but his total lack of subtleness turns his movie into 90 minutes of visual insanity, an extremely nefast movie. Apparently, he's just playing with our nerves, and he's doing it well; but trying to make fun out of this subject is a mistake, because there's no distance to be taken.