TROUBLE EVERY DAY
***
Directed by Clare Denis.
Starring Vincent Gallo, Beatrice Dalle, Tricia Vessey, Alex Descas.
Horror, France, 101 Minutes, Certificate 18.
Released in the UK on 4K & Blu-ray limited editions on 18th August by Eureka Entertainment
It's a good time to be a fan of extreme French horror, especially if you are a physical media enthusiast. The good folks at Eureka Entertainment have released French auteur Clare Denis' arthouse take on vampirism/cannibalism, the first of two films gaining special editions that are being unleashed over the next few months that will remind us of some of the most uncomfortable, and goriest, French films of all time. Great news for folks who like to read their films and feel unnerved and challenged at the same time!
Originally released in the UK towards the end of 2002, TROUBLE EVERY DAY was met with much derision, particularly by the broadsheet crowd who were so enamoured with her previous film BEAU TRAVAIL, the slow burn story of a Foreign Legion adjutant's desire for a soldier in his troop. To go from that to this, a film that experiments with genre, indulging itself in sex and violence in such an unflinching manner, seems like a case of tonal whiplash. Years later, we can now see how this singular take on such a well trodden genre fits within her filmography, particularly alongside her existential science-fiction nightmare HIGH LIFE, and how it was a precursor for a galvanising movement in world cinema that brought arthouse and horror fans together.
Beginning on the back roads of Paris with Coré, played by Beatrice Dalle in yet another unnerving performance, meeting a truck driver for some adult fun, we soon discover that this is not just some form of illicit thrill seeking. Driven by an insatiable hunger for flesh, Coré is looked after by her husband Léo, Alex Descas, a doctor who also doubles as a jailer for his wife, keeping Coré locked and boarded up to keep her appetite in check. Meanwhile, flying over from America are newlyweds Shane (Vincent Gallo) and his wife June (Tricia Vessey). Shane's disturbing fantasies of his wife drenched in blood hint at his own appetites and the real reason for visiting the country, to track down his ex-colleague Léo and discuss their past experiments, which may be the reason for Corè's behaviour and Shane’s own troubling and burgeoning appetite.
Cold and cerebral, TROUBLE EVERY DAY has never really been what you would call an easy watch. Challenging both of its audiences in the arthouse crowd and the horror mob with its depictions of vampiric cannibalism which lead onto sexual violence, the film still manages to unnerve with its main set pieces. The first with Coré’s seduction of a young amorous neighbour leading onto the man's total destruction neatly and bloodily distils Denis’ view of love and lust as all encompassing and powerful forces of nature. The second attack, by Shane on an unsuspecting hotel maid is even more disturbing, especially with the extra knowledge of what we now know of Gallo’s well documented conduct with young actresses on several film sets.
There is an elusive nature to the film but Denis also makes several points that are all too obvious. Nevertheless the film still works on its own terms and works as more than a curiosity piece as a forerunner to what would come to be known, and often rightly ridiculed, as “elevated horror.”
Released on both 4K and Blu-ray in strictly limited editions, the extra features do a good job of contextualising the film and its place within the New French Extremity movement. Alice Haylett Brian, an expert on the movement, provides an illuminating interview on how the film stakes its place in highbrow arthouse cinema and what is unfairly seen as the lowbrow horror genre, while a video essay from Virginie Sélavy informs the viewer of Denis’s long history with the project and its place in vampire cinema. Denis and director of photography Agnés Godard provide their thoughts on a subtitled commentary track while a brand new commentary track from horror scholar Lindsay Hallam rounds out the extras.
The 4K remaster sharpens the picture, while keeping the grain of the flashback sequences to fine effect. There are some small instances of blurring of actors in close-up but these are shots that are never lingered on. The audio is crisp and also nicely presented, making the most of the moody, near jazzy score from indie band Tindersticks, sounding better and fresher than ever before. Fans and admirers of the film will no doubt be won over by the presentation of a film that is always interesting whilst curious newcomers with an interest in the cinematic movement that it helped birth, will also be well served by how the film has been contextualised here and its fresh and still disturbing take on some of horror cinemas well trodden tropes and themes.
Iain MacLeod