Calvaire
He is passingly handsome and acceptably talented, and in other circumstances his career might have been more, but it was not to be, “artiste chanteur” Marc Stevens’ entire life in his transit van, costumes, equipment, documents, fading photographs of the past, moving from gig to half-filled gig, an envelope of cash and an unprompted proposition from a resident at the old people’s home where he performed a Christmas variety show all he has to show for a night’s work.
The awkward departure of the following morning a herald of what is to come, the road to his next engagement is long and he becomes lost on the backroads of Belgium, finding himself in a fogbound forest where a slip on the road strands him, a local seeking his missing dog pointing him towards the Auberge Bartel where Marc can seek shelter for the night, the host accepting his presence as though he were grudgingly expected.
The 2004 debut feature of writer and director Fabrice Du Welz, Calvaire, synonymous with Calvary in French, given the more expressive but still representative title The Ordeal in Australia, sees Raw’s Laurent Lucas stranded with no means of escape or communication with the outside world, held hostage by the eccentric innkeeper and warned to stay clear of the villagers for reasons which become swiftly apparent.
Monsieur Paul Bartel (Jackie Berroyer, later a favourite collaborator of Du Welz) a lonely man, a former entertainer who was deserted by his wife Gloria for whom he still pines, his attempts to form a bond with the disinterested Marc might have been played for awkward comedy or even tragedy, yet Calvaire never feels like more than a detour itself, edging around something which may or may not happen.
Looking for the wrong things in the wrong places, Mrs Langhoff and Mademoiselle Vicky (Gigi Coursigny and Brigitte Lahaie) both seeking reciprocated affection from Marc, he searching for that break in his career and refusing to be pinned down, Bartel seeking to replace his wife and Boris (Jean-Luc Couchard) aimlessly calling for his lost dog Bella, their aberrant behaviour patterns might have served as the start of the story but never progress.
Existing in a strange narrative vacuum, treading the same floorboards the premise wears thin, Marc subjected to humiliation, abuse and finally torture, though Calvaire does not fall into the mode of French extreme cinema, unwilling to commit to anything as it plods through the snow and mud of the forest seeking either meaning or an exit, the bizarre angry rustic dance number of the villagers providing a distraction but as disconnected as everything else.
Calvaire will be streaming on the Arrow platform from Friday 13th June
