Beyond the French Wave
Francis Rex Alger
Manila Times, July 14, 2003

French cinema is like Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde. The good side of it is proud from being consistent with coming up with original premises in its screenplay and the fact that Hollywood remade so many French films is a proof of that. The other side, however, is not for everyone for see due to a simple reason: they're extreme and provocative.

Many of these so-called extreme and provocative features can't be shown at the annual French Film Festival for the most obvious reason but those who managed to attend the CineManila International Film Festival and its extended period would be fortunate to see “Sitcom” and “I Stand Alone (Seul Contre Tous)”, both of which were released in 1998.

“Sitcom” is Francois Ozon's debut feature where he takes the concept of a dysfunctional family to a bizarre level. Its opening scene is shocking enough: a suburban family greets the man of the house on his birthday and he shows his appreciation by killing all of them with a gun. What follows is a flashback that traces the cause of it: a laboratory rat the father brought as the family's house pet. They found out too late that this tiny creature would turn their household upside down.

As the title suggests, viewers who enjoy black humor will dig this film but watch keenly and you'll notice that Ozon made an anti-bourgeois satire - and that's just the tip of an iceberg. If unpleasantness can be outrageous in “Sitcom”, irredeemable is what makes “I Stand Alone” a standout.

A British film critic describes it as a disturbing, thought-provoking and frighteningly candid exploration of the French psyche. It's a one-man show where a middle-aged butcher spits out with bitterness and wrath his unpleasant life and how he ends up loathing the world and himself. Director Gaspar Noe takes the audience into a downward spiral ride all the way, which no other films that tackle alienation (even Martin Scorsese's “Taxi Driver”) would dare to. They would surely end up more than bothered when the end credits are rolling.