La Chasse

Il n'y a que les Danois pour faire un psychodrame aussi bon ! Enfin, j’ai réussi à voir cette perle cinématographique. Avec un peu de retard, certes, mais je me suis rendu compte qu’avant de regarder La Chasse, il faut se conditionner mentalement et être prêt à mettre ses nerfs à rude épreuve. Mes nerfs ont donc été solidement titillés par le tic nasal de « l’ange blond » – un personnage qui n’a d’ange que le nom, après quoi les choses ont vraiment démarré. La photo de l’affiche capture la scène qui est peut-être la plus forte du film. Ce qui m’a surpris le plus, c’est la façon dont Vinterberg a imaginé l’attitude initiale de Lucas et la gestion de toute cette affaire extrêmement délicate. Je ne sais pas comment je me comporterais moi-même dans une telle situation, mais en tout cas, j’ai eu l’impression que son excès de passivité n’a fait que lui nuire et qu’envenimer encore la situation. D’un autre côté, cette attitude donne au film un aspect encore plus dramatique. Deux personnages à tuer : Grethe et le gigantesque papa de l’un des enfants. Mikkelsen et Bo Larsen jouent de façon sublime en tirant au maximum parti l’un de l’autre. Je suis vraiment curieux de voir La Grande Bellezza, parce que j’ai du mal à concevoir qu’un film puisse surpasser La Chasse sur le plan artistique ! (12/05/2014)

Un film pendant lequel et après lequel j’avais du mal à respirer. Spirituellement et émotionnellement éreintant. (04/07/2012)

No matter what anybody might say, Mads Mikkelsen is the most interesting and the best contemporary European actor. Each of his characters on the screen is alive. Not only alive, they’re downright breathing through the screen. In my opinion, The Hunt is the best notch on his belt that must win everyone over. I get that he took advantage of the current situation of the Danish cinema which is full of the best screenwriters and directors, but he was simply destined to be born into this very era and he made the best possible use of it due to his personality. The Hunt is a difficult movie to watch. It’s actually about a topic that is hard to talk about and just as hard to film. It’s a taboo that stirred the pot in this movie. The amazing thing is that the screenwriter apparently analyzed the human nature all his life and showed exactly what we, as human beings, are capable of doing and what we are not capable of doing. After an absurd discovery, Mads transforms with each single second of this movie and the viewer drowns in a depression that will leave you restless. That’s exactly what movies are about. About emotions and feelings that each of us should think about regularly. The Hunt managed to do that, and I must say that it is one of the few movies that aren’t afraid to reveal the truth hidden somewhere in the corner of each of us. (01/11/2013)

A calm Nordic winter, a five-year-old femme fatale, and me, unaware of the plot or anything else, sitting in my seat in the movie theater, and knowing that in six months I am to become a teacher too. It’s pure in terms of the genre to the point where words about sliding on the surface come to mind, yet it cuts under the skin like few things have in recent memory. I haven't felt my throat this tight in a long time. (11/02/2013)

Little Klara deserves an educational blow with an axe to the nape of her neck. The film can arouse the emotions of the viewer, mainly the negative ones, but it didn’t fascinate me as much as I wanted. In a couple of scenes the script felt overworked (for instance, how the testimony of a girl retold word for word by other people changes from "something indefinite" to a "clear accusation of harassment" - nice, but I felt the very purpose of it). The ending is strong, even though my horror-oriented self waited all the time for a proper exploitation “hunt”. (01/02/2013)