Visiting horror – Weekend – Kommersant
[ad_1]
“Don’t Tell Nobody”, a social horror film by Dane Christian Tafdrup, is released.
From the first frames it is clear that everything will be bad: car headlights are looking for a way in complete darkness, the music is not just disturbing, but chilling. But the nightmare seems to be canceled: the car arrives in a wonderful Italian town, where the main characters – the Danes Bjorn, Louise and their daughter Agnes – spend their holidays. They meet a fun-loving Dutch family: Patrick and Karen seem to be completely unaffected by the fact that their son Abel is so withdrawn and doesn’t talk at all. A wonderful holiday: sun, wine, music, jokes at dinner about how the Swedes have no sense of humor. After their vacation, Bjorn and Louise receive an invitation from new friends to spend the weekend in the Netherlands. “Of course, go, what’s the worst that can happen?” – admonish their Danish friends. For almost the entire film, nothing bad seems to be happening, the usual little things that always annoy when you come to live with half-familiar people. The bed is narrow, the food is not the same, Patrick and Karen live in such a wilderness that even the GPS can barely cope. And the music is so intrusive that you want to shout to the heroes: run away, you fools, can’t you hear this soundtrack?
The horror is in the little things. In the way a stranger smiles at you, as if you are his accomplice. In the kind of longing that devours a parent at a school concert. How in a strange company you drink the first glass in one gulp, persuading yourself that everything is in order. In how quickly you get along with people who are a little more open and persistent than yourself. In the way you say to yourself: it’s okay, they just raise a child differently. How you don’t want to upset your new friends, especially when they ask: “Well, am I a bad owner?”
The horror is in the existence of a global, cold, cheerful evil that does not look for excuses and does not tell fairy tales about its difficult childhood. It simply exists. Headlights highlight only what is very close, Bjorn will not see the full picture right away. Bjorn (Morten Burian), a pale, strainedly polite layman, is drawn to Patrick (Fedya van Heyt) – he says what he thinks, does what he wants, turns on too loud music, knows how to insist on his own and make a compliment that looks like a mockery. Bjorn was tired of keeping a face, smiling politely at those he hates, listening to the boring stories of colleagues. He would like to allow himself to live like Patrick – fun and free. But visiting Patrick, Bjorn, too, will soon begin to smile awkwardly and carry on an unpleasant conversation. Louise (Sidsel Sim Koch), seemingly understanding that she needs to be saved, also tries not to offend anyone.
Dane Christian Tafdrup (“Parents”, “Terrible Woman”) for the third consecutive film explores the darkness of human relationships – family, love, friendship. He appreciates horror classics – Don’t Look Now, The Exorcist, Rosemary’s Baby – but, along with his brother Mads, co-writer, plays with the boundaries and rules of the genre, trying to “bring something Scandinavian to American horror” . By the way, there are already rumors about an American remake. But if you tell this story in an American way, it will be very short: as soon as Patrick allows himself a xenophobic joke, everything will be clear with him right away. After the second misunderstanding, it can be immediately handed over to the police.
Tafdrup’s film is very European, slowly and inexorably pulling the characters into darkness. But no mysticism: only unequal forces of chaos and civilization. Politeness has become stronger than the feeling of self-preservation, and, having met with evil, a civilized person first of all tries to make friends with him. In the film, every second there is a gap between what the characters feel (run, run away from here) and their learned helplessness: you can’t offend good people. You can’t trust your feelings. Even with each other it is better not to discuss anything.
Why do guests do everything not to upset the hosts? Vegetarian Louise tastes wild boar meat. Bjorn, sensing danger, does not take his family away, but agrees to spend one more day with new friends. Agnes doesn’t try to ask Abel anything. And why do hosts go from fun-loving extroverts to sociopaths so quickly? By the end of the film, the characters get the answer: because you yourself allowed all this to be done to you. Adults and their politeness make evil possible, children and their silence turn the story into a parable like The White Ribbon, Sune Kelster’s soundtrack sounds like an ode to darkness.
In Tell No One there is Michael Haneke’s gloomy triumph of evil, Ruben Östlund’s provocativeness, and contempt for hypocrisy, like Maren Ade’s in Toni Erdmann. Tafdrup himself believes that he shot a satire or a farce, and not a sadistic horror at all, exploring the boundaries of tolerance, politeness and correctness. But he also considers “Solstice” a farce.
The original title of the film is “Guests”. The title “Don’t Tell Nobody” refers to the three monkeys sitting in “hear nothing, see nothing, tell no one” poses. “Don’t tell anyone” is a phrase that rapists love, adding something like “it’s all your fault.” One might decide that Tufdrup is prone to victim-blaming, blaming the victims, but he simply talks about the onset of a new darkness, about times when evil is better to see right away, to suspect a rapist is a rapist, not to try to justify a sociopath by saying that someone is not polite enough to him. answered. And you can not force yourself to smile at your neighbor – this will save a few seconds.
In theaters from 29 September
Subscribe to Weekend channel in Telegram
[ad_2]
Source link
