Review of Lemming (2005) by Mark A — 06 Jan 2013

A French thriller, starring one of my favorite actresses, Charlotte Gainsbourg, as Bendicte, the wife of Alain (Laurent Lucas), who has moved to a new town for his job. He is befriended by his boss, Richard (Andre Dussollier) along with Richard's wife, Alice (Charlotte Rampling).

The friendship quickly becomes a nightmare scenario because of the mental instability of Alice. I had trouble connecting to this, as it tended to rely on what appears to be the supernatural for its logical structure.

A lot of strange things happen that seem to have no relation to each other, except in the most superficial way and I just felt like the attempt to bring them all together lacked finesse. The tension depends on trying to figure out whether the events were actually happening as Alain experienced them, or were the product of a psychotic break or a lingering effect from an traffic accident he winds up having.

All in all, more than a tad unsatisfying. I'm still not sure what the lemming was supposed to signify. Alain finds one in their kitchen sink drain early on and it shows up in several scenes after that, but it seemed not to serve any purpose other than to lend its name to the film!