I found this a particularly interesting film.
To understand my thoughts on this one, most of the plot has to be known;
A young trainee nun sneaks out of the convent and takes a taxi to a hospital for an appointment following a positive pregnancy test, changing into 'Street clothes on the way so to stay incognito. She is nervous and shifty, trying to contact someone by phone but can't get through. She gets a taxi back with a different driver who seems friendly, they stop for her to find a quiet spot and change back into her nun clothing. She walks a short way from the taxi, finds a tree covered corner and whilst she is half undressed, from off screen comes a man, attacks and rapes her in an extended sequence which was so intense, although not atall graphic, there were audience members that walked out. The director, Bogdan George Apetri, chooses to show us only what we need to see, the man (we do not see him close up) chases and tackles her to the ground, the camera then slowly rotates to show the surrounding area and lands back on the pair as he beats her to silence and leaves, then comes back into frame to collect his glasses. The intensity and unpleasantness came from her screems which are extremely convincing. The attack is off screen mostly, and when it is within the frame, in the middle distance and partially hidden. She is savagely beaten and left to die. It seems the only logical explanation at this point is that the driver followed her as he was the only one who was there anywhere nearby, there's not really much question about it at this point, but the rest of the film does a great job of making you question what actually took place.
Next we follow a detective, (it isn't really explained how she was found etc) who seems extremely focused and invested in the case, so much so he seems to know more than he may be letting on. The taxi driver is the only suspect and the detective seems to have no doubt, he is so aggressively convinced that he himself becomes suspicious to the audience. I won't summarise every aspect of the story but a few other scenes help to tie up the audience even more, and more plot points are revealed making both the driver and detective seem less than trustworthy.
The reality of the plots events is left open to interpretation, there are a few different possible scenarios of what happened and who is who, which I like. Each one would mean the dynamics that we see of the main character would take on different significance. It's the kind of film that inspired debate afterwards.
Technically it was well acted and very well made. The director used lots of lingering long takes, I think to submerge us more into the world and to deepen our thoughts, in most cases making us feel more uneasy. My over-riding appreciation of the film comes down to the mystery aspect. Like any good mystery, once most is revealed, things that we had previously seen becomes more important in retrospect. All of this meant it was somewhat confusing and entirely intriguing, a powerful combination. I found myself trying to look at it from different angles in the hope of realising something new to help work things out. In this way (and in the almost nuetral approach to the intense sequences) it reminded me of Michael Haneke's work, especially Hidden. I'm not saying it is on the same level, I would have Hidden in my top 5 foreign films of all time, and probably top 20 overall, but this at least had the same feeling of pleasant frustration that there were probably clues I missed - I would very much like to see it again in the future.
The intense rape scene was, plot-wise and experience-wise, the centerpiece of the film, and will be the longest lasting memory from it i'm sure. It was very well done, I do like unpleasant extremeness In films, in fact I appreciate anything that gets a powerful reaction. This scene, and the rest of the film, ensured that I have been thinking about it alot since, more so than any of the other films from the festival. As I have said before, that's the most important thing a film can do.
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