I just watched Calvaire and I must admit that I did not see it as "shocking" or "disturbing" as many of the other commenter's (I read only a few) have mentioned. I don't even perceive it as a horror movie, for a horror movie, IMHO, would mainly be built to shock or, yes, horrify the viewer. To be honest, as a plain horror movie Calvaire would fail. But then again I have seen such things in cinema that it takes a lot more to shock me (i.e. the infamous scene in Irréversible, to mention one).
What I saw was an interesting "the circle has been closed" story, a piece of art that demands for the viewer to look beneath the slightly gruesome surface, to read between the lines if you wish. And the makers of Calvaire have made this very easy. It is not hard to miss the point of the movie - nor the metaphorical connection between the beginning and the end. I am not going to reveal neither here.
There's unrequited love, rejection, leaving, coming back and - forgiveness (out of love?). I haven't had enough time to consume the movie yet, so I will inevitably miss some crucial metaphor or analogy here.
This is a very symbolic movie that should make you think something. Not that intelligent or profound, but thinking in all forms is great fun, so I loved this movie, though some scenes, for example the one with the piano and dancing, almost made me laugh where I should not laugh. So I'll take some points off because of those scenes and the failure to disturb (as it was clearly meant to do that).
Oh, and as one previous commenter already noted, there are some definite connections to movies like Seul contre tous etc. (Philippe Nahon with a beard).
What I saw was an interesting "the circle has been closed" story, a piece of art that demands for the viewer to look beneath the slightly gruesome surface, to read between the lines if you wish. And the makers of Calvaire have made this very easy. It is not hard to miss the point of the movie - nor the metaphorical connection between the beginning and the end. I am not going to reveal neither here.
There's unrequited love, rejection, leaving, coming back and - forgiveness (out of love?). I haven't had enough time to consume the movie yet, so I will inevitably miss some crucial metaphor or analogy here.
This is a very symbolic movie that should make you think something. Not that intelligent or profound, but thinking in all forms is great fun, so I loved this movie, though some scenes, for example the one with the piano and dancing, almost made me laugh where I should not laugh. So I'll take some points off because of those scenes and the failure to disturb (as it was clearly meant to do that).
Oh, and as one previous commenter already noted, there are some definite connections to movies like Seul contre tous etc. (Philippe Nahon with a beard).