Alléluia
30/04/16 Filed in: Amazon Prime
Back to the Amazon Prime movies and the latest was Alléluia, a Belgian made French language film. It's been on my watchlist for a while, but I had avoided it up to now as it looked a bit sinister. My suspicions in this respect proved to be correct.
Michel is a serial womaniser who charms his way into relationships for the sexual experience and then to con money out of his victims. Gloria, who works in a morgue, is his latest conquest, and he leaves her after extracting money for a fictitious shoe company that he invented for the purpose. But Gloria isn't like the rest, she tracks him down and rather than take him to task, proposes that he continues with his exploits while staying with her as his true partner. This was always doomed to fail, and it does spectacularly.
Michel then woos and marries Marguerite, a lovely jolly woman who believes Gloria to be Michel's sister, although she soon begins to worry about their level of sibling intimacy. The foreplay before relieving Marguerite of her money naturally involves sex, at which point Gloria completely loses it. What follows is shocking in the extreme, be warned.
Michel is a serial womaniser who charms his way into relationships for the sexual experience and then to con money out of his victims. Gloria, who works in a morgue, is his latest conquest, and he leaves her after extracting money for a fictitious shoe company that he invented for the purpose. But Gloria isn't like the rest, she tracks him down and rather than take him to task, proposes that he continues with his exploits while staying with her as his true partner. This was always doomed to fail, and it does spectacularly.
Michel then woos and marries Marguerite, a lovely jolly woman who believes Gloria to be Michel's sister, although she soon begins to worry about their level of sibling intimacy. The foreplay before relieving Marguerite of her money naturally involves sex, at which point Gloria completely loses it. What follows is shocking in the extreme, be warned.
We next move on to Gabriella, a woman who supports the church and is taken in by Michel and Gloria's tale of a mission in Africa that is desperately in need of money. In a shocking replay Gabriella suffers the same fate as Marguerite, while Michel looks on powerless and almost transfixed by what is happening in front of him.
The third conquest is Solange, and this is by far the most disturbing episode in the film. So disturbing in fact that Michel finally calls time on Gloria's actions, but is fated to return to her despite everything that has happened. The final sequence is a bit surreal leaving you to surmise the outcome, although it doesn't really take much imagination to guess.
This is a horror film, but it is well acted and the story is, I understand, based on real-life events that took place in America in the 1940s. It's also, apparently, not the first film based on these events, which prompted some critics to ask why make another. But , having said this, critical reviews are generally good.
Calvaire, an equally disturbing film, was also directed by Fabrice Du Welz, and also starred Laurent Lucas. I didn't know this while watching Alléluia, but I was aware of the same chilling sensations.
The third conquest is Solange, and this is by far the most disturbing episode in the film. So disturbing in fact that Michel finally calls time on Gloria's actions, but is fated to return to her despite everything that has happened. The final sequence is a bit surreal leaving you to surmise the outcome, although it doesn't really take much imagination to guess.
This is a horror film, but it is well acted and the story is, I understand, based on real-life events that took place in America in the 1940s. It's also, apparently, not the first film based on these events, which prompted some critics to ask why make another. But , having said this, critical reviews are generally good.
Calvaire, an equally disturbing film, was also directed by Fabrice Du Welz, and also starred Laurent Lucas. I didn't know this while watching Alléluia, but I was aware of the same chilling sensations.