Calvaire (film)
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''Calvaire'' ( ''Calvary'', also known as ''The Ordeal'') is a 2004
psychological horror Psychological horror is a genre, subgenre of horror fiction, horror and psychological fiction with a particular focus on mental, emotional, and Mental state, psychological states to frighten, disturb, or unsettle its audience. The subgenre freque ...
film directed by Fabrice Du Welz, starring Laurent Lucas, Philippe Nahon and Jackie Berroyer. It was Fabrice Du Welz's first full-length film. Marc Stevens ( Laurent Lucas) is a young traveling singer. After a concert at a nursing home a few days before Christmas, Marc begins traveling to his next destination. Marc's van breaks down in a deserted mountain region where he is taken in by Mr. Bartel ( Jackie Berroyer), an innkeeper who is psychologically fragile due to his wife Gloria leaving him.


Plot

Marc Stevens is a struggling low-level performer, who makes his living performing light pop ballads and easy listening tunes at retirement homes. En route to perform at a
Christmas special Christmas themes have long been an inspiration to artists and writers. A prominent aspect of Christian media, the topic first appeared Christmas in literature, in literature and Christmas music, in music. Filmmakers have picked up on this wealth o ...
, his van — which doubles as his home — breaks down during a storm and he is stranded deep in the woods. Lost, cold, and succumbing to the elements, Marc is rescued by a local, an emaciated young man named Boris, who takes Marc to a run-down inn. The sole occupant of the inn is its proprietor, Mr. Bartel, an amiable old man who lives there as a
hermit A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions. Description In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Chr ...
of sorts. Claiming to be a retired standup comedian, Bartel welcomes Marc to stay and offers to repair his van as a token of brotherhood between professional entertainers. Marc accepts the offer, but remains aloof, not speaking with Bartel about his own career or personal life. The next morning, Mr. Bartel tows Marc's van into the front yard of the inn. Marc tells Bartel he is going for a walk, at which point Bartel suddenly becomes paranoid and aggressive, warning Marc not to go into the nearby village. Marc agrees, but during his walk he approaches a nearby farm, where he witnesses a family voyeuristically watching a teenage boy have intercourse with a calf, calling the experience "so tender". Meanwhile, rather than repairing Marc's van, Bartel snoops through Marc's living quarters and takes his mobile phone and some amateur pornographic photographs presented to Marc by a fan (
Brigitte Lahaie Brigitte Lahaie (born Brigitte Lucie Jeanine Van Meerhaeghe; 12 October 1955) is a French radio talk show host, mainstream film actress and former pornographic actress. She performed in erotic films from 1976 through 1980 and is a member of t ...
). That night, Bartel becomes even more aggressive, working himself into a frenzy while recalling his adulterous wife Gloria who abandoned him years before. He insists that Marc sing him a song before going to bed. The next day, Marc finds the homemade porn in the inn and realizes Bartel has been going through his things; when he attempts to call for help, he discovers that the telephone Bartel has been regularly using isn't even wired into the wall. Confronting Bartel, Marc discovers him vandalizing the van and pouring petrol over it; Bartel knocks Marc unconscious and blows the van up. Marc wakes to find himself tied to a chair, clad only in an old dress. Mr. Bartel, now babbling, addresses Marc as if he were his wife, asking why "she" has come back after leaving him. Mr. Bartel sets about shaving one half of Marc's scalp, to "protect" him from the villagers, before forcing him into bed and cuddling next to him. The next day, Bartel ties Marc to a tractor and takes him out into the woods to chop down a
Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...
tree. Marc escapes, but ends up getting caught in a rabbit snare. He lies there prone while darkness falls, until Boris wanders by. Marc begs him for help, but Boris ignores his pleas, addressing Marc as if he were his lost dog. He sits beside Marc and pets and strokes him until the desperate Marc bites his leg, at which he goes away. The next morning, Bartel, alerted by Boris, retrieves Marc, driving him back to the inn covered by a blanket on the back of a hay truck. A pair of villagers see Boris driving the truck with something concealed under a blanket, but they take no action. Back at the inn, Bartel chastises "Gloria" for running away, then crucifies Marc behind the inn before going into the village to have a drink at the local pub. Seemingly convinced that his wife was a " slut" who was sleeping with every man in town, Bartel warns the men drinking in the bar that now "she" has "returned", none of them can "have her". The men all appear frightened at Bartel's ramblings, but once he leaves, one of the patrons sits at the antique piano and begins to play nightmarishly discordant
waltz The waltz ( , meaning "to roll or revolve") is a ballroom dance, ballroom and folk dance, in triple (3/4 time, time), performed primarily in closed position. Along with the ländler and allemande, the waltz was sometimes referred to by the ...
music. Gradually, the men all get up and begin dancing with one another. Back at the inn, Bartel brings Marc into the kitchen and they sit down for Christmas dinner. Boris arrives with a calf, convinced that it is his missing dog. Bartel gives a tearful, impassioned speech about love, togetherness, and the spirit of the holidays, before a sudden rifle shot rings out and a bullet explodes through the inn's window, killing Boris. The villagers lay siege to the inn, rushing the inn with a pig on a leash as one would employ a dog, intent on reclaiming the calf, and it quickly becomes apparent that they are also intent on raping Marc, in the shared delusion that Marc is Bartel's returned wife. The villagers mortally wound Bartel before turning their attention to Marc; one of them then briefly rapes Marc on the dining room table. Shots are fired among the men and in the confusion, Marc manages to escape from the mob and into the forest. He spends the night running from them through the woods, coming across a cemetery with an imposing crucified Christ gravestone, aligning with the Calvaire of the title. Marc manages to elude all but one of the men, who is about to capture "Gloria" when he falls into a bog and starts being swallowed up by the mire. Crying and broken, Marc approaches the drowning man. Instead of using the man's gun against him - or making any attempt to save him - Marc watches as he sinks below the surface. Finally, just before the man's head sinks into the marsh, Marc, as Gloria, responds to his impassioned question by telling him that "she" does, in fact, love him. Within seconds, the villager is dead, and Marc is left alone in the wilderness.


Cast

* Laurent Lucas as Marc Stevens *
Brigitte Lahaie Brigitte Lahaie (born Brigitte Lucie Jeanine Van Meerhaeghe; 12 October 1955) is a French radio talk show host, mainstream film actress and former pornographic actress. She performed in erotic films from 1976 through 1980 and is a member of t ...
as Mademoiselle Vicky * Gigi Coursigny as Madame Langhoff * Jean-Luc Couchard as Boris * Jackie Berroyer as Bartel * Philippe Nahon as Robert Orton * Philippe Grand'Henry as Tomas Orton * Jo Prestia as Fermier Mylène * Marc Lefebvre as Lucien * Alfred David-Pingouin as Roland * Alain Delaunois as Gáant * Vincent Cahay as Stan le Pianiste * Johan Meys as Rosto


Release

It premiered on 18 May 2004 as part of the
Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...
. it was also screened at the
Edinburgh Film Festival The Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF), established in 1947, is the world's oldest continually running film festival. EIFF presents both UK and international films (all titles are World, international, European or UK Premieres), in al ...
in 2004. It had its US release on August 25, 2006. Its official English title was ''The Ordeal'', but most reviewers have still referred to it as ''Calvaire''.


DVD release

"A Wonderful Love", a short filmalso directed by Fabrice Du Welz. The American DVD is subtitled "The Ordeal".


Reception

The film has received mixed and divided reviews from critics.
Peter Bradshaw Peter Nicholas Bradshaw (born 19 June 1962) is a British writer and film critic. He has been chief film critic at ''The Guardian'' since 1999, and is a contributing editor at ''Esquire'' magazine. Early life and education Bradshaw was educat ...
from
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
awarded the film 4 out of a possible 5 stars, calling it "A brilliant black comic nightmare". While, Marc Savlov from the
Austin Chronicle Austin refers to: Common meanings * Austin, Texas, United States, a city * Austin (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin (surname), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin Motor Company, a British car manufac ...
awarded the film a negative 1 1/2 out of 5 stars, stating, "Calvaire has a few passages of genuine dread – a barroom dance by the local villagers is just plain disturbing – but it takes so long to get going and fails to generate the necessary suspense to keep viewers engaged, that the horrific final act is too little, too late, while at the same time nearly being much too much". J.R. Jones from
Chicago Reader The ''Chicago Reader'', or ''Reader'' (stylized as ЯEADER), is an American alternative newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. The ''Reader'' has been ...
gave the film a positive review, complimenting the film's thematic complexity and diabolical humor. Roberto Curti of offscreen.com in 2005 stated "the main problem with Calvaire is the passive, unsympathetic nature of its main character" and "Du Welz has a keen eye for composition", and "injects weird elements into the story". It currently has a rating of 46% "Rotten" on film review aggregate
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
, with an average rating of 5.7/10 based on 26 reviews. The site's consensus states that the film "has a certain amount of grim potential, but loses effectiveness by too often mistaking disturbing gore for genuine horror". On
Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
, the film has a more positive score of 52 based on 12 reviews.


Production

Originally, the idea was to portray two male characters, one of whom would mistake the other one for his wife, it took three years for the script to develop from the original idea of Fabrice du Welz. The film was shot in Belgium's
Hautes Fagnes The High Fens (; ; ), which were declared a nature reserve in 1957, are an upland area, a plateau region in Liège Province, in the east of Belgium and adjoining parts of northwestern Germany, between the Ardennes and the Eifel highlands. The Hig ...
natural reserve and in the village of Bullange. Filming also took place in
Mondorf-les-Bains Mondorf-les-Bains (; ; ) is a Communes of Luxembourg, commune and town in south-eastern Luxembourg. It is part of the Remich (canton), canton of Remich. Mondorf-les-Bains is a spa town (hence its name), and has the only casino in Luxembourg. , ...
, Luxembourg.


Awards


Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival

* Grand Prize of European Fantasy Film in Silver


Gérardmer Film Festival 2005

* International Critics Award * Premiere Award * Special Jury Prize


References


External links

* * * * {{Fabrice Du Welz 2004 films 2004 directorial debut films 2004 horror films 2004 LGBTQ-related films 2000s French-language films 2000s psychological horror films Belgian LGBTQ-related films Belgian horror films French psychological horror films Luxembourgian horror films LGBTQ-related horror films Zoophilia in culture Films set in Belgium Films shot in Belgium Films shot in Luxembourg Films directed by Fabrice Du Welz Luxembourgian LGBTQ-related films French LGBTQ-related films French-language Belgian films French-language Luxembourgian films 2000s French films 2000s Belgian films French-language horror films