Lemming (film)
Encyclopedia
Lemming is a psychological thriller
film, directed by Dominik Moll
and starring André Dussollier
, Charlotte Rampling
, Charlotte Gainsbourg
and Laurent Lucas
. It was entered into the 2005 Cannes Film Festival
.
When Alain pulls the lemming out of the S-bend, it seems pretty lifeless. But when Benedicte goes to find it the next morning in the laundry room, the camera zooms in on its visible heaving chest, thereby setting up an important relationship with a heaving chest that shows up later in the movie.
Moll's Lemming questions the paradigms of popular reality, leveraging more than you ever thought there was to know about poltergeists, possessions
, vengeful ghosts
and synchronicity
.
Throughout, as each successive outrageous departure from accepted reality presents itself to the Hero as irrefutable fact, he calmly negotiates the decision curve without batting an eye. Even when it puts him in hospital.
.
Psychological thriller
Psychological thriller is a specific sub-genre of the broad ranged thriller with heavy focus on characters. However, it often incorporates elements from the mystery and drama genre, along with the typical traits of the thriller genre...
film, directed by Dominik Moll
Dominik Moll
Dominik Moll is a German born French film director and screenwriter. He wrote and directed Harry, un ami qui vous veut du bien and Lemming. He was born in Bühl, West Germany....
and starring André Dussollier
André Dussollier
André Dussollier is a French actor.-Filmography:* 1970 : Ils, directed by Jean-Daniel Simon* 1972 : Les Chemins de pierre, directed by Joseph Drimal...
, Charlotte Rampling
Charlotte Rampling
Charlotte Rampling, OBE is an English actress. Her career spans four decades in English-language as well as French and Italian cinema.- Early life :...
, Charlotte Gainsbourg
Charlotte Gainsbourg
Charlotte Lucy Gainsbourg is an Anglo-French actress and singer. After releasing an album with her father at the age of fifteen, more than twenty years passed before she released two albums as an adult to commercial and critical success...
and Laurent Lucas
Laurent Lucas
-Biography:A student of Charles Dullin, Lucas soon became one of the most admired young performers in the Strasbourg National Theatre. He first emerged on the scene with his role in I Hate Love, where he starred as an HIV positive man....
. It was entered into the 2005 Cannes Film Festival
2005 Cannes Film Festival
The 2005 Cannes Film Festival started on May 11 and ran until May 22. Twenty movies from 13 countries were selected to compete. The awards were announced on May 21...
.
Synopsis
Alain Getty (Lucas) is a Home Automation Engineer who accepts a job in the south of France and moves there with his wife Benedicte (Gainsbourg). After three months, his new boss (Dussollier) invites himself and his wife Alice (Rampling) to dinner at Alain's house. They arrive late and create a scene with their marital problems and Alice is then despicably rude to Benedicte. Things go downhill from there, beginning with Alain's discovery of an unconscious lemming lodged in the S-bend of the kitchen sink.When Alain pulls the lemming out of the S-bend, it seems pretty lifeless. But when Benedicte goes to find it the next morning in the laundry room, the camera zooms in on its visible heaving chest, thereby setting up an important relationship with a heaving chest that shows up later in the movie.
Moll's Lemming questions the paradigms of popular reality, leveraging more than you ever thought there was to know about poltergeists, possessions
Demonic possession
Demonic possession is held by many belief systems to be the control of an individual by a malevolent supernatural being. Descriptions of demonic possessions often include erased memories or personalities, convulsions, “fits” and fainting as if one were dying...
, vengeful ghosts
Yurei
are figures in Japanese folklore, analogous to Western legends of ghosts. The name consists of two kanji, 幽 , meaning "faint" or "dim" and 霊 , meaning "soul" or "spirit." Alternative names include 亡霊 meaning ruined or departed spirit, 死霊 meaning dead spirit, or the more encompassing 妖怪 or お化け...
and synchronicity
Synchronicity
Synchronicity is the experience of two or more events that are apparently causally unrelated or unlikely to occur together by chance and that are observed to occur together in a meaningful manner...
.
Throughout, as each successive outrageous departure from accepted reality presents itself to the Hero as irrefutable fact, he calmly negotiates the decision curve without batting an eye. Even when it puts him in hospital.
Cast
- Laurent LucasLaurent Lucas-Biography:A student of Charles Dullin, Lucas soon became one of the most admired young performers in the Strasbourg National Theatre. He first emerged on the scene with his role in I Hate Love, where he starred as an HIV positive man....
- Alain Getty - Charlotte GainsbourgCharlotte GainsbourgCharlotte Lucy Gainsbourg is an Anglo-French actress and singer. After releasing an album with her father at the age of fifteen, more than twenty years passed before she released two albums as an adult to commercial and critical success...
- Bénédicte Getty - Charlotte RamplingCharlotte RamplingCharlotte Rampling, OBE is an English actress. Her career spans four decades in English-language as well as French and Italian cinema.- Early life :...
- Alice Pollock - André DussollierAndré DussollierAndré Dussollier is a French actor.-Filmography:* 1970 : Ils, directed by Jean-Daniel Simon* 1972 : Les Chemins de pierre, directed by Joseph Drimal...
- Richard Pollock - Jacques Bonnaffé - Nicolas Chevalier
- Véronique Affholder - Francine
- Michel Cassagne - Le vétérinaire
- Florence Desille - L'infirmière
- Emmanuel Gayet - Le médecin de garde
- Félix Gonzales - Félix, le fils du voisin
- Nicolas Jouhet - L'employé des eaux
- Fabrice Robert - Bruno
Reception
The film was generally well received by critics, and maintains a 70% approval rating on Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
.