Trouble Every Day (film)

Trouble Every Day

French theatrical poster
Directed by Claire Denis
Produced by Georges Benayoun
Screenplay by
  • Claire Denis
  • Jean-Pol Fargeau
Starring
Music by Tindersticks
Cinematography Agnès Godard
Edited by Nelly Quettier
Production
companies
Distributed by
  • Rézo Films (France)
  • Kinetique (Japan)
Release dates
  • 13 May 2001 (Cannes)
  • 11 July 2001 (France)
  • 9 September 2001 (TIFF)
  • 2 November 2002 (Japan)
Running time
101 minutes[1]
Country
  • France
  • Germany
  • Japan
Language
  • French
  • English
Box office $9,184[2]

Trouble Every Day is a 2001 French erotic horror film directed by Claire Denis and written by Denis and Jean-Pol Fargeau. It stars Vincent Gallo, Tricia Vessey, Béatrice Dalle and Alex Descas. The film's soundtrack is provided by Tindersticks.

Plot

Shane and June Brown are an American tourist couple holidaying in Paris. Gradually, June becomes aware that Shane is visiting a mysterious clinic and decides to investigate it herself, although ambivalent about the merits of her fraying marriage. The resident doctor, Leo, has a similarly ambiguous relationship with Core, his wife, whom he keeps secluded from the clinic's clients...until Shane encounters her, one day, and finds the tools to possibly restore his marriage to June.

Cast

Release

Trouble Every Day was screened out of competition at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival.[3]

Reception

The film received mixed reactions from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, based on 49 reviews, the film has a 49% rating; the consensus states: "An erotic thriller dulled by a messy narrative."[4] Metacritic reports a 40/100 rating based on 16 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[5]

Variety wrote that it is "over-long, under-written and needlessly obscure instead of genuinely atmospheric".[6] The Boston Globe was more positive, but concludes by calling the film "a success in some sense, but it's hard to like a film so cold and dead".[7]

Later, the film developed a small following who admire it for its themes of existentialism and its unique take on the horror genre as well as gender roles. It was given an in depth analysis by Salon.com which looked at the intricacies of the film, particularly the metaphorical nature of the narrative. At Film Freak Central, Walter Chaw said, "Plaintive and sad, Claire Denis' Trouble Every Day is a rare combination of honesty, beauty, and maybe even genius."[8] The film has been associated with the New French Extremity.[9]

See also

References

  1. "TROUBLE EVERY DAY (18)". British Board of Film Classification. 20 May 2002. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
  2. "Trouble Every Day (2013 re-release)". Box Office Mojo. Internet Movie Database. 10 February 2014. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
  3. "Festival de Cannes: Trouble Every Day". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 24 October 2009.
  4. "Trouble Every Day". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
  5. "Trouble Every Day". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
  6. Derek Elley (14 May 2001). "Trouble Every Day". Variety. Retrieved 15 February 2009.
  7. Chris Fujiwara (26 April 2002). "Out for blood? Art meets gore in 'Trouble Every Day'". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 15 February 2009.
  8. review
  9. Quandt, James, "Flesh & Blood: Sex and violence in recent French cinema", ArtForum, February 2004 Accessdate: 10 July 2008.

External links