Calvaire (The Ordeal) review

A tense Belgian horror which is a distant cousin of Switchblade Romance and Wolf Creek, Calvaire (The Ordeal) has a fairytale-like appeal for the first half of its running time, until it then becomes something completely different: an unsettling, graphic and disturbing kidnap film, with more than its fair share of torture thrown in. It's almost like watching a full-length version of the infamous ear scene from Reservoir Dogs.

Marc Stevens (Laurent Lucas) is a young singer who specializes in performing old school French songs in retirement homes, an odd profession especially given that the average groupie age is over seventy. On his way south after a gig, Marc gets lost. Soon his decrepit old van breaks down and he comes across a dilapidated hotel deep in the woods. At first its owner is benevolence itself: promising to fix his van, making him food, and allowing him to stay as long as he wants. There's only one caveat though: Marc must not stray out of the grounds into the village below.

But when things begin to take a strange turn, Marc becomes worried. Instead of fixing his van, the proprietor has emptied it and stolen some of his possessions. Soon, Marc finds himself shaved, dragged through the forest and eventually pinned to a wall crucifixion-style. And that's not to even mention the villagers who arrive with their own particular ideas on how to welcome the new guest.

While the production values and performances are decent enough, Calvaire wears its influences far too obviously for it to make any new statement or have much of an impact. The truth is that we have largely seen all of this before: not only in the recent films mentioned above (alongside Cabin Fever and Wrong Turn), but in the classic genre films of the 70s such as Deliverance, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, An American Werewolf in London and even Don't Look Now.

Some may find all of this intriguing and it's always enjoyable to play spot-the-influence. Nevertheless its relentlessly slow pace may make it something of an ordeal for many viewers, and the lack of empathy for either the good or bad characters makes it hard to connect with. These flaws, coupled with increasingly bizarre forays into the surreal and the religious, make it a slight and forgettable affair, rather than the unsettling and shocking film it would like to be. Considering that it's set at Christmas, Calvaire is unlikely to fill anyone with Yuletide cheer.

Paul Hurley