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Special Features
- Theatrical trailer
Editorial Reviews
Philippe Grandieux’s feature directorial debut is a psychological thriller delving into the warped mind of a serial killer. While driving through France, murderer Jean encounters two sisters, Christine and Claire, whose car has broken down on the side of the road. Jean attacks Christine but is thwarted by Claire who then makes the ultimate mistake of staying with Jean in an attempt to save him.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Dark and disturbing,
This review is from: Sombre (DVD)
Philippe Grandrieux's explicitly dark and violent debut feature from 1998 would seem to have a couple of obvious references, owing much to David Lynch's Lost Highway ('97) with its night-time road journey motifs and its blonde/brunette division of female archetypes, and to Claire Denis' tone poetics and serial-killer theme from J'ai pas sommeil ('94), but Grandrieux pushes the exploration of extreme mental states much further into abstraction in a manner that those two directors wouldn't do until much later (Lynch in Inland Empire ('06), Denis in Trouble Every Day ('01)).
The film follows Jean, a violent man of few words (and most of those are reduced to stark barked commands), a puppeteer ironically terrifying children at his dark puppet shows as he travels across France leaving a trail of dead prostitutes and exotic dancers in his wake. He encounters two sisters, Claire and Christine - one dark, the other blonde - and strikes up an uneasy acquaintance with them, attracted and at the same time repelled by the virginal state of Claire that is contrasted with her sister Christie who is rather more outgoing and relaxed in her nakedness, between them offering the tortured, violent man the promise of redemption or a temporary release from his dark impulses. Largely silent and set in almost permanent darkness, so much so that a great deal of the extreme imagery is mercifully obscured, Sombre is however still a profoundly disturbing viewing experience. The film's qualities however lie more in its treatment than in its limited narrative drive, with characters whose motivations would be almost unfathomable where it not for the intensity and strength of the performances - Elina Löwensohn in particular most impressive in a very challenging role, is much more expressive through her eyes here than the ice-maiden roles we are accustomed to see her play. Unfortunately, the qualities that the film relies on - the impenetrable darkness, the use of sound - are poorly represented on the US Koch Lorber DVD. The film is letterboxed, but not widescreen enhanced, the black levels flat and lacking in detail. Yellow subtitles, although optional, don't do anything for the film's muted colour scheme either. The DVD is region-free however, and certainly acceptable in the absence of any other in-print edition.
4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
`Mood piece' that is not for all tastes,
By Sarah Bellum (Dublin, OH United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Sombre (DVD)
Films about serial killers normally fall into one of two categories: (1) the story is told from the point of view of the detectives tracking the killer; (2) or, less commonly, in third person narrative about the killer, with attention paid to the means the killer utilizes to escape capture. The only variances are caliber of writing and acting, budget and details about the methods of murder or detective work. Since the police are nowhere to be seen here, this French film falls more or less into the second category, though it does manage to mete out a fairly unique style. Jean (Marc Barbé) is the killer, who normally targets prostitutes. His day job is a puppeteer, which affords him the opportunity to frighten children with some scary stories and monstrous puppets. He puts killing on hold after he meets Claire, a pretty young woman who has just come away from some undisclosed form of confinement. Claire is played by Elina Löwensohn, who is perhaps best known to American audiences as Katya, a former Olympic gymnast who dates Jerry on "Seinfeld." She also appeared in the American version of "Dark Water" as well as "Schindler's List," a film which provided memorable comedic fodder in another episode of "Seinfeld." As Claire's sister, Christine, Géraldine Voillat provides a sense of normalcy in an otherwise peculiar relationship. Beautiful and with good screen presence, Voillat's film career apparently consists of this one film. Despite having so much going for it, this film barely managed to maintain my interest. I attribute this to the film's style and direction. With very little dialogue, the viewer relies on following the onscreen action. This proves a little more difficult than it sounds because the film purposely goes out of focus with a good deal of frequency and uses confusing camera angles. I suppose this is meant to mirror Jean's state of mind or his loss of lucidity as he meanders through the life. We get a sense of who he is through his lack of social interaction, his violent outbursts and the manner with which he fights for Claire. Nonetheless, the film lacks suspense, something a film about a serial killer really should have. Perhaps this was supposed to be a character study of a serial killer, which would make the lack of suspense forgivable. If this was the intent, however, why is there such little dialogue? This is essentially a modern silent film, with actions and symbolism written with this in mind. At one point in the film, Jean stops to watch bikers racing in the Tour de France. By the end of the film, he has experienced the love of a good woman and no longer passively watches life race by him. Apparently this is subtle optimism that is designed to draw sympathy for an unlikable serial killer. By the time you reach that point of the film, however, you will be able to understand why Philippe Grandrieux has directed only one other feature film.
1 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Need to catch up on your sleep?,
By
This review is from: Sombre (DVD)
Sombre (Phillipe Grandrieux, 1999)
There have been a number of attempts over the years to take the slasher flick and make an artistic statement with it. I don't necessarily mean making a slasher film, but in an artistic way (e.g. Argento's slasher flicks, most notably Profondo Rosso), but making an art film that happens to be about a serial killer. The movies that have succeeded in this seemingly difficult discipline are few, but widely recognized as brilliant (Haneke's original 1997 Funny Games is an obvious example, as is Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer). Grandrieux (Un Lac) tried his hand at the genre with Sombre. Whether he succeeded seems largely to be a matter of personal taste for the viewer; both critical and popular opinion on the films seems to have been equally divided. Plot: a puppeteer named Jean (Marc Barbé, recently of The Girl with the Sun in Her Hair) and his girlfriend/consort/slave/something Christine (Géraldine Viollat in her only screen appearance) travel around France amusing the kiddies and killing prostitutes. All goes well until they meet Claire (The Wisdom of Crocodiles' Elina Löwensohn), an innocent young thing who just may manage to convince--by example, no less--Jean of the error of his ways (without ever really raising any explicit objections to them). The best way I can describe this to an American audience is to say "imagine Henry, but if Otis were female, Henry and Becky were rutting like rabid weasels, and the cinematography were..." I'm not even going to try and finish that sentence in any succinct way, because I know there's going to be an argument from someone, somewhere, about this. To me, the cinematography is murky, confused crap. I'm sure someone somewhere will call it subtle and appropriate to the subject matter, especially given that so much of this movie seems to happen inside Jean's head. The problem with this argument, to me, is that Henry operates in much the same way (there's a reason I keep coming back to it), but the camerawork there is, for the most part, much crisper. The parallel is still accurate, though, because the movie itself is equally murky, confused crap. What could have been a landmark in the erotic thriller genre is a spectacular failure. Sure, it's kind of pretty, when you can make out what's going on, but it's a plotting mess, the acting (save the wonderful Löwensohn, whom I'll watch in anything) isn't all that much better, the script could have used a great deal of help. Worth it if you collect these sorts of films, otherwise avoid. * ½
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