The Captive (2000) La captive

Director: Chantal Akerman
Writers: Chantal Akerman (scenario), Eric De Kuyper (scenario)
Stars: Stanislas Merhar, Sylvie Testud, Olivia Bonamy

A handsome, elegantly dressed, hopeless neurotic lives in a labyrinthine, half-renovated Paris flat with his ailing grandmother, faithful family servant, and Ariane Rey, the object of his obsessive, unquenchable desire and his willing captive in this story inspired by Proust’s La prisonnière.

A quiet, intense, low key look at the dysfunctional relationship between a very rich young man and the young woman he 'keeps' at his house. Is she trapped or is he? Who's really the captive?

Not much happens in terms of events, the film is mostly in the details, but those details are great. The two leads give amazingly subtle performances, and the photography and lighting – while never showy – are magnificent. One of the most interesting and effective 'cold' looks I've seen in a film. Beautiful compositions.

A film for those interested in complexity of character, a director using image and mood to tell a story, and patience to allow the slow accumulation of details to add up over time to something very special.

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