Cannes Diary: 20155 of 14
Cannes Diary - Day 3 & 4
The best, and coincidentally most commercial, film I've seen has been MARYLAND, a taut psychological thriller from director Alice Winocour. It stars Matthias Schoenaerts as Vincent, a soldier with PTSD who is back at home and who takes jobs with a private security firm to make ends meet.
He is first assigned to the party of a sleazy businessman and his icy, well-kept wife, played by Diane Kruger.
At the party Vincent quickly surmises that the husband is not only up to no good but very possibly in danger of being assassinated. He is brought into the drama even further when the husband leaves for a few days and Vincent is assigned to look after the wife and their young boy, discovering they might be targets too.
Or are they? Is it all in Vincent's shattered imagination and damaged psyche? Is he really the dangerous one?
Director Winocour takes a very worn-out storyline and a tired character, the world-weary special ops enforcer, and infuses the entire production with smart and unexpected twists and turns.
The most delicious aspects of the film are early on as Vincent goes on his rounds at the party, not only familiarizing us with the grounds and the layout of the house he has to protect, but introducing us to the main characters and the intrigue as well. It's dangerous to bandy about comparisons to Hitchcock but Winocour's work here is well worth taking the risk.
If this doesn't turn Schoenaerts into a top-of-the-list leading man then something is awry.
The best, and coincidentally most commercial, film I've seen has been MARYLAND, a taut psychological thriller from director Alice Winocour. It stars Matthias Schoenaerts as Vincent, a soldier with PTSD who is back at home and who takes jobs with a private security firm to make ends meet.
He is first assigned to the party of a sleazy businessman and his icy, well-kept wife, played by Diane Kruger.
At the party Vincent quickly surmises that the husband is not only up to no good but very possibly in danger of being assassinated. He is brought into the drama even further when the husband leaves for a few days and Vincent is assigned to look after the wife and their young boy, discovering they might be targets too.
Or are they? Is it all in Vincent's shattered imagination and damaged psyche? Is he really the dangerous one?
Director Winocour takes a very worn-out storyline and a tired character, the world-weary special ops enforcer, and infuses the entire production with smart and unexpected twists and turns.
The most delicious aspects of the film are early on as Vincent goes on his rounds at the party, not only familiarizing us with the grounds and the layout of the house he has to protect, but introducing us to the main characters and the intrigue as well. It's dangerous to bandy about comparisons to Hitchcock but Winocour's work here is well worth taking the risk.
If this doesn't turn Schoenaerts into a top-of-the-list leading man then something is awry.
PeopleMatthias Schoenaerts, Diane Kruger
TitlesDisorder