Qui a tué Bambi? (2003) User Reviews

A thriller based on dialogue rather than action

[raymond-15 · 7/10 · 2 August 2004]

Isabelle ( Sophiie Quinton) a hospital nurse not yet fully certificated suffers from dizzy spells due to an ear problem. One of the senior surgeons Dr. Philip (Laurent Lucas) calls her Bambi. A stupid remark in my opinion and not befitting his character. The hospital looks ever so hygienic with its rooms and corridors in dazzling white and the doctors and nursing staff uniformed in white, white, white! But strange events are happening in this spotless hospital...patients are waking up under anaesthesia....patients are disappearing from their beds....what has gone awry?

As events unfold Isabelle, a sweet young thing, has strong suspicions about Dr. Philip's behaviour, but she really hasn't any proof. The film mainly concerns Isabelle's attempts to solve the hospital's continuing problems. The film is well cast with Dr. Philip suitably stern, morose and unyielding and little Bambi sweet and innocent and unsure of her nursing capabilities. (She may have done better in the police force!) As a thriller there are no menacing gestures and the excitement is restricted mainly to the dialogue.

The operating theatre has an air of authenticity about it as do the surgeons and nursing staff going about their business with hyperdermic needles and scalpels. I must say I think it was amiss of the medical staff not to notice the puncture in the fresh Pentothal phials. A minor criticism perhaps. As for the disappearing patients, it is a well known fact that frustrated patients do discharge themselves on occasions at short notice.

These thrillers are often conceived in such a way with clues that deceive. Consequently, with this in mind I carefully explore the motives of each character. I regret to say that I was tricked into coming to a wrong conclusion about the perpetrator of the crimes.

If you like hospital dramas and are not booked into an operating theatre in the near future, this film is for you.

Who killed Bambi?

[laurasinead · 7/10 · 21 January 2008]

A slow thriller about a young trainee nurse who suspects that one of the doctors working at the hospital is up to no good.

The white wash of the entire hospital gives the film it's eerie, anonymous feel, however it remains highly predictable throughout which is a little annoying. Fortunately the obvious chemistry between the main actors compensates and certainly adds to the tension that is needed. Sophie Quinton is entirely believable as the naive Isabelle and never 'overplays' the part and Laurent Lucas is perfect for the charming yet sinister doctor.

One for those who like Hitchcock and don't mind sitting though a 2 hour film, although it does make you think twice about going to the doctor again ...

Misleading thriller?

[lost-in-limbo · 5/10 · 13 November 2005]

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.

Atmospheric thriller

[dbdumonteil · 8 February 2006]

"Qui a tué Bambi?" has big qualities:gore and special effects are almost absent and the story is wrapped in an agonizing atmosphere .

The director knows his classics: in turn ,I've thought of Henri-Georges Clouzot's "la Prisonnière" (the relationship between the doctor and the nurse which verges on sado-masochism) ,of Crichton' s "Coma" (there's an hospital where patients disappear,and one of their surgeons' behavior is dubious),of Polanski's "Rosemary's baby " (a character is in the middle of a strange conspiracy ,nobody believes her,but there's more: the jewel the doctor gives to the nurse strongly recalls the one Minnie Castevet gives to Rosemary;and in both movies the jewels had belonged to another woman (dead) before)and of "Carnival of souls" (the car wreck).

The director adds hints at Walt Disney's "Bambi" as well;the title is no misnomer: "Your mother will not come round anymore" " Your legs are giving way under you,just like Bambi" .

Perhaps the best ideas of the script are the "games" subject: an innocent game the nurses play in the corridor where they tell if a person is a man or a woman by the way they look at their fingernails; wicked games such as the consonants and the vowels one.You may remember in "the crying game" the story called "the scorpion and the frog" which comes back later at the end of that Jordan film . "The consonants and the vowels " game plays the same part here.It's downright disturbing when the nurse plays it for the first time in a hellish nightclub.The second time,not only the heroine but also the audience can play too.

The two leads are convincing and they never overplay ,which is a tour de force in such a context.One can regret the last minute .It comes almost as an anticlimax.

It's a good thriller.The director knows his classics.

Stylish French Thriller

[rmax304823 · 6/10 · 30 January 2006]

I missed the first 15 minutes or so and that might be why the ending left me as confused as it did. I mean, what happened to the doc? Was the forest and the hole part of a dream? Was the whole movie a dream? Did I fall asleep and dream it all myself? In any case, I found this to be pretty good. It's slow, of course, by the standards of, say, "Coma", or "Freddy and Jason Haunt a Hospital," but the visual images, the score, and the acting make up for it and keep a viewer's attention engaged.

The visual images are striking in their sterility and simplicity. It's not not like any hospital you've ever been except maybe in a couche-mar. The hospitals I'm familiar with -- the better ones -- have people bustling about night and day, and the floors have coded colored lines on them. This hospital is mostly empty. And oddly lighted. Even the OR is dark except for some dramatic lighting over the patient etherized upon the table. In the corridors, the FLOORS seem to emit their own white light.

There is hardly any score to speak of. There is usually an ominous discordant electronic hum. Aside from that there is only a slight groan from an opening door and the squeak of rubber soles on polished linoleum. Well, an occasional scream too.

The acting is fine on everyone's part. Dr. Phillip's role doesn't call for much except a haughty look and a stern tone. But Isabella is just about right. Few people have ever looked so winsome and helpless. She has a slight figure and the face of an adolescent girl. (Try to imagine Gerard Depardieu in the part.) The story itself is rather routine. We've seen it in one or another variation before. But this is a well-done example of the genre, worth catching.

Trust me, I'm a doctor

[njd123 · 6/10 · 3 July 2005]

A good thriller. At times it did feel like a made-for-TV film, but maybe that was due to the small cast and the constant hospital setting (both of which do give the film a claustrophobic feel).

Unfortunately I missed out on the Q&A session with the director who had attended an earlier showing at the Institut francais in London, otherwise I have nothing much else to add to the other comments posted here.

In short, a creepy film set in a hospital with a good enough cast - but nothing out-of-the-ordinary. One thing that I couldn't get out of my head though: all modern hospitals have CCTV cameras, which would have prevented the events in this film from taking place.

A very nice thriller with a mediocre story

[=G= · 6/10 · 6 May 2005]

"Who Killed Bambi?" is a subtitled French film all about Isabelle (aka Bambi), a surgical nurse in training in a hospital where strange things are happening to attractive female patients. As this somewhat plodding film wears on, Isabelle comes to suspect a surgeon of murder and the plot becomes a dangerous contest of wits between doctor and nurse. A visually stylish film with little to fault, the mounting tension is marginal and barely sufficient to qualify it as a thriller. Rather it is a somewhat tedious drama which a couple of peculiar dream-like scenes which seem like an after-thought and a conclusion which is anticlimactic and too long in coming. Nonetheless, there's enough substance to make this a worthwhile watch for those into French cinema who've seen the many better films of this genre. (B)

Oh Deer

[writers_reign · 5/10 · 3 July 2005]

Someone has clearly remarked to Laurence Lucas how much he resembles Monty Clift and on the strength of that Lucas has presumably checked out some of Clift's movies and seems hell bent on replicating Clift's tortured intensity. Not too much wrong with that except it's one thing to bear a physical resemblance to a great actor but quite another to BE a great actor. First-time director Gilles Marchand does Lucas no favours by casting him as a weirdo, a surgeon who, for reasons never made clear and/or explored, prefers his sexual encounters to be with nubile girls recovering from surgery. His method is slightly less crude than plying them with scotch and involves adding Pentol to their saline drips to effectively anaesthetize them and then diluting the Pentol with water and returning the vials to the drug cupboard with the result that patients begin waking up during surgery. Young trainee nurse Isabelle (Sophie Quinton) rumbles Dr Phillip (Lucas) but is initially attracted to him in what could have been an interesting complication but Marchand is totally inept in his handling of the plot and we are always two steps ahead of him and one step towards the exit.

Fabulous mix of Drama and Suspense

[achilles2ca · 9/10 · 1 October 2003]

I caught this film at the Toronto International Film Festival by accident - its yet another example of the rule that the best cinema you see is only seen when you least expect it.

This is a witty, suspenseful, and very French film. It concentrates around the relationship between a student finishing up her nursing degree in a work term at the local hospital and her relationship with a young male doctor who she gradually suspects, over the course of the film, of being a psychopath. It is primarily a drama set within the plot of a thriller. There is a low-key romance that stutters but refuses to start between Isabelle (nick named, to her dislike as `Bambi' by Dr. Philipp) and the Dr. Philipp himself, the villain. All occurring while patients and staff slowly disappear, and things go increasingly wrong at the hospital.

The lead actress (Sophie Quinton) is beautiful and plays her role excellently. Dr. Philipp is equally well played by Laurent Lucas as the cool doctor and the equally cool villain. He is suitably disconcerting and downright creepy when the situation calls for it

Marchand also successfully creates a creepy and almost romantic atmosphere in the film despite the white corridors and the bland environment of the hospital grounds in which it is shot. The film constantly shifts from the fluorescent white of the interior of the hospital to the dark sky and dimmed green of the landscape of the outdoor night shots: he uses this `non-environment' to focus more greatly upon the characters. What remained with me after viewing this film were the images of the two leads' faces. Marchand uses a lot of close-ups, and as the film progresses, he increasingly concentrates upon the protagonists, allowing their expressions and moods to drive the suspense and the drama as much as the dialogue.

Qui a tué Bambi is also a very witty film. It opens with a comic scene and is paced by well placed witty dialogue amongst the nurses and between Bambi and Dr. Philipp. Much of the pleasure in watching the film stems from it's dialogue as Marchand takes full advantage of his past experience as writer.

The film's one failing is that it does not build up to it's climax well: there is not enough sense of mounting tension. As a drama is quite successful, as a Hitchcockian thriller it is not nearly so.

This is one of those few films which one can enjoy watching simply for the pleasure of watching the craftsmanship of a skilled team of filmmakers as well as enjoying a well-told story.

Stylish thriller without climax

[Mr_Qvick · 7/10 · 24 August 2003]

Espoo Ciné, 23.08.2003

This was the third screening in the world of this film.

I must say, Gilles Marchand knows how to make a stylish movie.

The plot is set to a hightechnology hospital somewhere in france. Isabelle is studying for her surgery-nurse diploma but is having difficulties with an illness that gives her dizzy-spells. She needs to have an operation. At the same time a Doctor is abusing patients sexually after giving them anasthetics. All the actors are very good and convincing, especially Laurent Lucas (Dr.Phillip) who makes a pretty good twisted doctor.

There is a small problem with this film. It's not the actors, it's not the script, It's not the cinematography. The problem is more in the direction and the visual style. There is not enough tension in the film to build up some kind of climax so the film ends up a bit flat in my mind. The music is a bit boring and doesn't really contribute to anything. The lack of visual horror kind of takes away the edge of the film.

Anyways, Marchand has made a quality film that is really worth seeing. His inspiration of hitchcock is pretty easy to see, of course with his own individual touch. When I asked him about which directors inspire him the most (he was attending Espoo Ciné) he mentioned Hitchcock and David Lynch. There are some dream sequences that are clearly lynch-inspired but they totally lack all the intensity that lynch beholds.

Good movie, not a classic in any way, but still good!

Regards, Qvick

Interestingly botched

[jwarthen-1 · 3/10 · 26 July 2004]

A pretty dreadful French thriller in which a gifted scenarist may be learning how to direct. The 126 minutes' length hints of a genre-piece that can't stop itself: the director wrote twice as many fainting scenes, dream sequences, and face-offs between heroine-villain as any film could sustain, and then left in every damned one of them. Its only suspense lies in the gradually revealed nastiness of the director himself-- "He's not going to do THAT to his actors.... My God, he really IS." The casting and the peculiar violations of genre logic show vestiges of a much better movie than BAMBI. In a day full of interesting French films shown at Boston's MFA, this ringer, of course, turned out to be the only one secured for American distribution. You are seeing the Director's Cut on screen-- a case in which a Studio version of this frayed and rough-cut would be superior.

wonderful movie

[mariebrohard · 10/10 · 21 July 2005]

This movie was stunning. It's not supposed to be scary, like someone's going to get me scary (i think people that say that are reading it the wrong way), it's more about the creepiness of our own desires. I don't want to give too much away, but this is a wonderful movie.

The ending makes sense to me, I don't know why people keep saying it doesn't? No she didn't die physically, I think that's supposed to be meant a different way. Maybe her view of herself died, or she was permanently changed by the experience. Realizing who she is, while obviously not understanding or wanting it. The hole that she dreamed about.

"Dumb blond" frozen in fear stereotyping

[DocFilm · 3/10 · 29 October 2005]

This is a throwback to the horror and action-adventure movies in which the tension is based on the threatened woman who cannot get out of the way of danger because of her passivity, gullibility, or other gender stereotyped disability. Here we are offered a pseudo-psychological explanation having to do with her mother having died (mother-loss rendering her more vulnerable to domination by the medical patriarchy????) She fails to act or to follow through repeatedly (e.g. failing to mention the clue of the two needle holes after she goes out on a limb at the incident review conference, and we are given no clues as to her motivation in taking that risk at that point or in her failure to follow through).

Other egregious negative stereotyping in these genres (and in the crime genre) are--- screaming upon finding the corpse, and running from danger being pulled by the man (have you ever tried running holding someone's hand? Dysfunctional!!)

Overlong medical drama

[billcr12 · 4/10 · 18 February 2012]

A doctor is sedating and then molesting his patients at a hospital where Bambi(Sophie Quinton) is a nurse in training. Doc is a guy with severe mental problems who is discovered by Bambi to be not living up to the Hippocratic oath of "first do no harm." Unfortunately, this film is much longer then necessary and for a far superior medical mystery I would recommend "Coma" from 1978. I was bored to death by the implausible storyline and disappointing ending.

Ms. Quinton is a fine actress, well above the silly material here. Her best work is in "Poupoupidou" as a modern day Marilyn Monroe and a crime drama with a compelling script. Her talent and beauty are completely wasted in this tedious, overlong effort.

Hitchcock Would Have Preferred This

[EmperorNorton47 · 8/10 · 7 November 2005]

American films of this type show lots of blood and gore. The French take that off screen. Americans cover up. The French realize that nakedness is part of life.

Consequently, when Americans watch a sophisticated European suspense film, we're unable to engage it. We believe that the only terror comes from popped veins.

Why can't we be more like the French? Hitchcock would have preferred this to the usual fare of slasher pics that come out of the American movie establishment.

The title is such a delicious tease....

Why Bambi?

[contato-56-570022 · 1/10 · 5 January 2012]

I have just finished to see the movie and I came to IMDb, which seems to be a very serious movie website, to read what people wrote about "Qui a tué Bambi?". It's strange that everything I read turns to make the film a good quality one.

The argument is poor. The music is non-sense (it tries to copy the soundtracks of David Lynch. And I still do not know how can somebody quote him here). It's far from anything we had in history of cinema like Lynch, Kubrick's and so.

If Bambi was in Cannes, I'm starting to doubt about the festival as well. And it's impressive how can the media support it. I've seen some French movies and I believe this is the worst one, it's so young as Facebook. The film was made for cocktails, good for globalized children.

You may not want to go to a hospital ever again.

[swnthom · 8/10 · 7 April 2005]

That was in essence the tag line for this french film by Gilles Marchand. While I would not go that far, I would say that Marchand has crafted an excellent "what if" scenery for this tale about a doctor who molests some of the female patients in his hospital who are recovering from operations.

Brief Spoilers

As usual, the protagonist, this time Isabelle, as portrayed by the very interesting Sophie Quinton, a nurse in training at the hospital knows something is not quite right about Dr. Phillip. Odd occurrences are happening around the hospital with a couple of female patients disappearing and nobody can figure out quite why. Later on, we find out that Dr. Phillip is using an anastephic to keep his female patients unconscious while he molests them. To make up for the lost drugs he is using on his victims, he dilutes it with water, thus a couple of patients being operated on wake up in the middle of the operation.

Marchand has to be commended on how he crafts his tale. The movie is slightly over two hours but one is kept interested by the characters and the storyline. Sophie Quinton is superb as the lowly nurse in training who takes on the powerful, yet evil Dr. Phillip. She is very cute and demure, yet is well at ease being the lead performer in this piece. The actor who plays Dr. Phillip, whose name escapes me at the moment, is truly terrifying as the sexual predator. His is not an easy role for it has been done so many times over. Dr. Phillip is a silent loner with obvious problems, yet the actor does not go overboard with him. Instead, the actor makes Dr. Phillip a subdued character with something definitely evil lurking below the surface.

A lot of writing about this film has made comparisons to David Lynch in style. I shall refute that now. While this movie definite borders on the surreal side, it does not fall in some of the ridiculous pitfalls that Lynch tends to lead his movies.

Worthwhile quiet thriller.

[bombersflyup · 8/10 · 30 July 2019]

Who Killed Bambi is an engaging foreign film, with a likable lead actress.

Sinister and beautiful, though a bit predictable at times. The last time calling from below the dormitory, it's obvious that it won't be Sami. When Phillip asks Isabelle to fetch his coat, Isabelle knows the patient's likely to die, so she should of just stayed, because she's responsible for the person.

Awesome Cinema!

[Charbax · 8/10 · 6 August 2003]

I really enjoyed this movie at the Cannes Film Festival.

Walking out the cinema, wearing my smoking tuxedo suit, I was shouting to myself what an awesome movie this is!

I love the psychopath, I love the main actress, the cinematography is absolutely cool. The story is cool.

This is maybe kind of like a David Lynch experience. Weird scenes, weird dialogs, weird camera-work, weird script. All this weirdness, and concentrated beautiful set-ups makes the film very cool.

I rate it 8/10.