One way to look at Claire Denis‘s ‘Trouble Every Day‘ (2001) is as a realistic and gory vampire movie (yes, even bloodier than many other vampire movies). Critics and experts in film history will say that the film belongs to the controversial current ‘New Extremity’ (or ‘New French Extremity’ if we don’t include Lars von Trier and Michael Haneke) which in the years before and after the turn of the millennium shocked the film world and viewers with themes and scenes of extreme violence. Leaving aside the categories and applying the disclaimer that the film is not for those who dislike violence on screen, I found ‘Trouble Every Day‘ to be an engaging and original film, well written and acted, of a strange and unsettling beauty.
The film’s opening scenes define postcard Paris as where much of the story takes place and introduce the two narrative planes, which will alternate until the meeting that throws the characters’ destinies up in the air. Léo is a doctor and Coré is his wife which he is forced to imprison in their own house, as when she escapes she attracts and seduces men, and then kills them and eats of their flesh. Shane and June Brown are an American newlywed couple traveling to Paris on their honeymoon. Arriving in Paris, Shane seems absent and preoccupied with something else. He had once worked with Léo and maybe even had an affair with Coré. He is looking for him and the reasons are not clear. Something about the joint research in which a revolutionary idea of Léo’s seems to have led to catastrophe? Or is it Shane’s obsessive tendencies that seem to be similar to Coré’s and are putting the fledgling marriage in jeopardy?
The directorial approach of Claire Denis (who is also a co-writer) is original for both a horror film and an art film, ‘Trouble Every Day‘ claiming to belong to both genres. The story is told coldly, indiferently. The music of the alternative rock group Tindersticks plays a different role than in Hitchcock’s films for example – it accompanies the bonding and tension-building moments, but stops at key scenes, when only the sounds of the action convey the drama of what is happening on screen. The cinematography belongs to the formidable Agnès Godard, a regular collaborator of Claire Denis but also of other directors such as Wim Wenders, Catherine Corsini or André Téchiné. The casting of Vincent Gallo, himself a controversial personality, seems counter-intuitive. He doesn’t look very American and doesn’t exude the apparent calmness that the role might demand. When the masks come off though, the intensity of his acting is just right. Béatrice Dalle as Coré is attractive and lethal. Tricia Vessey and Alex Descas are well cast in the roles of June and Léo. Tense and alert in pace, well filmed and without reticence in going far to exploring the limits, ‘Trouble Every Day‘ has good chances to satisfy art film lovers as well as those of horror and extremes movies fans.