Trouble Every Day (2001)
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| Siren Visual Entertainment (Australia). Region 4, PAL. 1.85:1 (16:9 enhanced). English DD 5.1. English Subtitles. 96 minutes |
| The Movie |
| Cover Art |
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| Credits |
Director: Claire Denis
Starring: Vincent Gallo,
Tricia Vessey, Beatrice Dalle, Alex Descas
Screenplay: Michel Parry
Music: Tindersticks
Country: France |
Here's a challenge. Trouble Every Day (no relation to the Frank Zappa anti-racist track
from 1966) is definitely more arthouse than outhouse
and has a more contemplative pace than your resistance
to sleep might allow but it's the world's first
ode to sexual cannibalism and has no fear about
getting down and biting where it hurts and leaving
the viewer to clean up the mess.
The opening scene features a couple kissing in
near darkness before a fade to black. Next comes
a shot of Beatrice Dalle (Betty Blue)
obviously older but still sexy, getting out of
a van for some sort of liason with a truck driver.
Cut to night and a man's body is discovered in
a paddock wearing little but his own congealing
blood and a weird grin. Nearby, the man who turns
out to be a doctor, finds a cowering Dalle with
blood all over her mouth and quickly removes her
from the scene that's now attracting the authorities.
Meanwhile, a couple (Gallo and Vessey) are jetting
into Paris for a honeymoon and unbeknownst to
his new wife, the answers to some serious questions.
Gallo dreams of a woman soaked in blood. Back
at the house the doctor shares with Dalle, he
carefully locks her up as he leaves for the day.
Two young guys observing from across the road
immediately attempt to break in. Dalle discovers
an electric jigsaw under her bed. Simultaneously,
Gallo and wife are checking into their hotel as
another story strand is picked up of a hotel maid
knocking off general hotel smallgoods. Back in
the hotel room a long pan of Vessey reclining
in the bath comes to rest on a bite mark on her
shoulder. Gallo is in the next room making an
urgent phone call in an unsuccessful attempt to
contact a doctor. Then it's back to Dalle who's
cut her way out of her prison and indulged in
a little playtime with her two new playpals. The
doctor soon arrives home and not dismayed at the
scene begins to dig a hole.
And so, Trouble Every Day continues
along almost languidly as it teases out the story
of a medical experiment gone massively awry and
one man's attempts several years later to redress
the situation or at least get some answers to
the problems that dog him and rule his life on
a continual daily basis. While as many questions
are thrown up as answered Trouble Every
Day also spills more body fluids and
removes more body parts in the course of it's
running time than even the most hardcore horror
film. And much of the grue ends up on/inside Beatrice
Dalle. |
| Video |
| The transfer of Trouble Every Day superbly reproduces the dark tones that this film
relies on to relate it's sombre story. A more realistic
reproduction of clotting plasma you're unlikely
to witness. |
| Audio |
| The soft blues jazz score and attendant use of
low-key sound effects don't really make the best
use of a surround mix but this is obviously not
the filmmaker's intention which is to create an
ongoing atmosphere that is sad rather than shocking. |
| Extra Features |
| None. |
| The Verdict |
By no stretch of the imagination is Trouble
Every Day a standard horror film. It's
actually a film that creates it's own standards
on a subject that few horror films have even hinted
at. Although it doesn't shy from revealing it's
graphic nature the effect of watching it can be
retroactive like bathing in warm silt and then discovering
many days later that you still have some of that
dirt under your fingernails. In short, Trouble
Every Day is a cinematic experience that
many viewers will find troubling and that's why
I completely recommended it.
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