- EIFF 2019: ANIARA is a Deeply Haunting Sci-Fi Experience [Review]
- Darkstar Pictures Announces Free Online Film Festival!
- Stunning First Look at Indie Fantasy THE WANTING MARE [Trailer]
- Stunning First Look at Indie Fantasy THE WANTING MARE [Trailer]
- Stunning First Look at Indie Fantasy THE WANTING MARE [Trailer]
- SKYLINES Is Coming! [Poster Premiere]
- Who Hunts Who in HUNTER HUNTER? [Trailer]
- MONSTER HUNTER Coming for Christmas [Trailer]
- Saskatoon Fantastic Film Festival Returns with In-Person Event [Line Up]
- LUNATIQUE Director Returns with WASTELAND 3 Promo [Short Film]
- Re: Occupation, Australian Sci Fi movie
- Slice of Life, Blade Runner inspired short
- Is Snowpeircer a sequel to Willy Wonka?
- Re: Yesterday
- Re: Yesterday
- Yesterday
- Re: White Night (or where do I get my 30 + from now?)
- Re: White Night (or where do I get my 30 + from now?)
- Re: White Night (or where do I get my 30 + from now?)
- Re: White Night (or where do I get my 30 + from now?)
- LUNATIQUE Director Returns with WASTELAND 3 Promo [Short Film]
- A Comet Destoys Earth in GREENLAND Trailer
- Interactive WAR OF THE WORLDS Adaptation Out Now!
- 8K Trailer for Train to Busan Sequel PENINSULA Drops Hard!
- Making a Bomb Shelter in a Funhouse is a Bad Idea in IMPACT EVENT [Trailer]
- Retro Slave: FOX's Post-Apocalyptic Sitcom WOOPS!
- TRAIN TO BUSAN Sequel PENINSULA Gets a Teaser Trailer
- New on Blu-ray and DVD for March 11, 2020
- The Apocalypse Kills Women in ONLY [Trailer]
- Trailer for TheWalking Dead: World Beyond Spin-Off Series
- BORDERLANDS Movie From Eli Roth in Development
- SATOR is a Welcome Addition to the Folk Horror Canon [Review]
- Women in Horror Month: NEAR DARK
- SOUTHLAND TALES: The Cannes Cut [Review]
- A Woman's Mind Unravels in BIGHT HILL ROAD [Review]
- TIFF 2020: Vanlife Gets a Reality Check in NOMADLAND [Review]
- TIFF 2020: APPLES, THE WAY I SEE IT, PIECES OF A WOMAN & ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI [Capsule Reviews]
- TIFF 2020: The Truth Tellers Return with THE NEW CORPORATION: THE UNFORTUNATELY NECESSARY SEQUEL [Review]
- TIFF 2020: NEW ORDER is Brutal, Violent & a Must-See [Review]
- TIFF 2020: ENEMIES OF THE STATE, Or Are They? [Review]
- TIFF 2020: HOLLER Explores Life in a Dying Town [Review]
- THE STRANGERS Director Returns with THE DARK AND THE WICKED [Trailer]
- Michael Shannon is Crime Boss in ECHO BOOMERS [Trailer]
- Hair Extensions Get Horrific in BAD HAIR [Trailer]
- TIFF 2020: Vanlife Gets a Reality Check in NOMADLAND [Review]
- VIFF 2020: Sobriety, Reintegration & Telekinesis Come Together in THE CURSE OF WILLOW SONG [Interview]
- VIFF 2020: Revenge Thriller Re-Examined in VIOLATION [Interview]
- VIFF2020: Director Loretta Todd on the Making of Her Debut Feature MONKEY BEACH [Interview]
- TIFF 2020: APPLES, THE WAY I SEE IT, PIECES OF A WOMAN & ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI [Capsule Reviews]
- TIFF 2020: The Truth Tellers Return with THE NEW CORPORATION: THE UNFORTUNATELY NECESSARY SEQUEL [Review]
- TIFF 2020: NEW ORDER is Brutal, Violent & a Must-See [Review]
- TIFF 2020: ENEMIES OF THE STATE, Or Are They? [Review]
- NO ESCAPE Director Talks Influencers, Escape Rooms & Writing [Interview]
- TIFF 2020: HOLLER Explores Life in a Dying Town [Review]
- The Funny Side of Alien Invasions: You have to SAVE YOURSELVES! [Trailer]
- Kodi Smit-McPhee Goes to the Future to Save the Present in 2067 [Trailer]
- First Look at Denis Villeneuve's DUNE [Trailer]
- Fantasia 2020: LAPSIS, THE COLUMNIST, MINOR PREMISE, FEELS GOOD MAN & HAIL TO THE DEADITES [Capsule Reviews]
- BUNRAKU Writer/Director Returns with LX 2048 [Trailer]
- BLOOD QUANTUM Writer/Director Talks Inspiration, Zombies & Representation [Interview]
- Fantasia 2020: THE OAK ROOM, MARYGOROUND & CLIMATE OF THE HUNTER [Capsule Reviews]
Jack In
Latest Comments
Latest Forum Posts
PA News
Latest Reviews
Older News
Crew
Marina Antunes
Editor in Chief
Vancouver, British Columbia
Christopher Webster
Managing Editor
Edmonton, Alberta
DN aka quietearth
Founder / Asst. Managing Editor
Denver, Colorado
Simon Read
UK Correspondent
Edinburgh, Scotland
Rick McGrath
Toronto Correspondent
Toronto, Ontario
Manuel de Layet
France Correspondent
Paris, France
rochefort
Austin Correspondent
Austin, Texas
Daniel Olmos
Corrispondente in Italia
Italy
Griffith Maloney aka Griffith Maloney
New York Correspondent
New York, NY
Stephanie O
Floating Correspondent
Quiet Earth Bunker
Jason Widgington
Montreal Correspondent
Montreal, Quebec
Carlos Prime
Austin Correspondent
Austin, TX
Latest news








There's no softening the blow of Claire Denis' Bastards. The director who has made a name for herself with beautiful movies which tackle difficult material returns with a tale of planned revenge that ranks among some of the most twisted I've seen and though not quite on the level of Irreversible, the two movies do share a similar emotional devastation.
Vincent Lindon stars as Marco, a ship's captain who abandons his post after receiving a call from his sister informing him that his best friend and brother-in-law has committed suicide. He returns to Paris to care for his sister and young niece only to discover that the family business has fallen to creditors, that his friend borrowed heavily from a shady business man named Laporte and that his niece has been drugged and brutally raped. Essentially, Marco's family is falling apart and he's charged with putting the pieces back together.
Marco moves into the building where Laporte lives and strikes up a relationship with the businessman's wife Raphaëlle. At first it seems Marco is doing so as a way to exact revenge on Laporte but as the details of the situation unravel, Marco's motives become less clear. He's trying to uncover the truth about his niece, a truth which turns out to be far more twisted than anyone could have anticipated, but his feelings for Raphaëlle seem authentic and not the product of some grand plan for revenge.
In the end, the good things about Bastards are also the most frustrating, namely the movie's vagueness with details and the lack of resolution for Marco. He seems to be making progress towards his revenge plan and at one point, we even get a glimpse of that plan through a dream, but the plan never materializes and for that matter, it never seems to start. There's also the strange relationship Marco shares with his sister which leads to a number of nuanced exchanges that feel like they have a far deeper connection than the events that are unfolding in the present but Denis and co-writer Jean-Pol Fargeau don't reveal any of their history which leaves the relationship hanging. It's that same lack of details and history that adversely affects some of the other relationships, particularly that of Marco and Raphaëlle.
The one place that Bastards doesn't miss is in the chemistry between Lindon and Chiara Mastroianni as Raphaëlle. From the moment the two see each other it's like the entire world stops and focuses on them. Denis and frequent collaborator, cinematographer Agnès Godard, capture the sex scenes with an intimacy that makes them a little uncomfortable to watch, much more so than the much buzzed about extended scenes in Blue is the Warmest Color (review) but where Abdellatif Kechiche's are just long, Denis' are intense and the camera gets so close to Lindon and Mastroianni that it feels like we're right there with them. Lindon and Mastroianni are like firecrackers, you can almost see the strings connecting them and it's even more apparent when the pair pretend to avoid each other. That cat and mouse game gets old in most sexual thrillers but here the stakes seem far higher and the fact that the pair are like magnets only intensifies their relationship.
Denis provides more than enough material to turn the stomach but Bastards is far more impressive once you step back and look at what Denis has presented. It's not what's on screen that really troubles, though there is some of that, but rather what's no on screen. Bastards' most horrifying scenes and themes are never out rightly spoken but only implied and the final scene is a perfect example: Denis doesn't show us the act but just enough for us to put the pieces together and feel traumatized for a few days.
You might also like






