INSIDE

US/Belgium/Greece, 2023, 105 minutes, Colour.

Willem Dafoe, Gene Bervoets, Eliza Stuyck.

Directed by Vasilis Katsoupis.

Edgar Allan Poe had a story about the premature burial, on being buried alive and the threat of death. Ryan Reynolds starred in Buried, a drama with the same theme.

However, this is a story of an art thief, Nemo, yet another excellent performance from Willem Dafoe, who invades a lavish Manhattan apartment to steal paintings by Egon Schiele, fails to find a self-portrait and breaks the security, finding himself trapped, his contact breaking off the phone call.

So, Nemo is buried, a burial inside his deteriorating mind, and external burial and his means for survival in the apartment.

He tries every means for escape, even building a huge scaffolding with tables and furniture to try to reach the skylight and remove its bolts but this takes time and he is unsuccessful, even falling from the scaffolding and breaking his leg, having to construct a splint and limp around the apartment.

Extreme heat and cold, no food and water, water from the sprinkler from for the extensive garden within the apartment, dog food, fish from the aquarium. And his mind deteriorates. He can see on the surveillance screens the maid outside but she does not hear him, wearing earphones. And he has a dream fantasy about meeting the owner at a social.

Weeks pass, he finally lights a fire so that the extinguishers will pour water and alert outsiders – flooding the apartment but no response.

Nemo creates his own art on the walls of the apartment.

At the end, it is left to the audience whether he actually reaches the skylight and is able to escape – or not.

Screenplay was written in collaboration with the director whose only previous film was a documentary about a musician friend. The main author is British Ben Hopkins, Simon Magus, The Nine Lives of Thomas Katz.

1. The title? Literally in the apartment? Nemo trapped in his deteriorating mind?
2. The situation, lavish apartment, the works of art, Nemo as a thief, his contact, not finding the key painting, the search, breaking the security, his being trapped? The consequences for his survival?
3. The visuals of the apartment, lavish, the rooms, staircases, skylight and windows, the artwork, and gallery? The secret passage? The secret room for the self-portrait? The background score?
4. Willem Dafoe, his career, performances, skills in different characters? Age, appearance? Voice? The credibility of his situation, means for survival, consequences?
5. His background story, choices in the disaster, keeping art, art being ageless? For his background as an art thief? Appreciation of art? And his own artwork, drawings, telling his story on the wall? And the note to the owner?
6. The entry, the plan, security, his phone contact, not finding the self portrait, the breaking of the security, his contact breaking off contact? Stranded?
7. The two dramas of his being inside, inside his mind and its deterioration, externally and his attempt at survival?
8. The thermostat broken, the extreme heat and cold, finding clothes and coats? The refrigerator, the continued playing the song on opening the door, no food, no water? The huge garden, the sprinkler and the water? The trapped pigeon and its death? Building the scaffold, to reach the skylight, removing the bolts, making the tools? Eating the dog food, the fish from the aquarium?
9. Time passing, the strain, no contact, the compensation of the television? Focusing, focusing on time, on food, exercise, survival? Deteriorating?
10. The continued building, the bolts, his falling, breaking his leg, the splint, finding the painting, the smoke detector, the deluge of water?
11. The surveillance, his being able to see so much about side, but especially the maid, his name for her, vacuuming, eating lunch, the earphones and her not hearing him bang or call? Fantasies about her?
12. The dream, the social, formal, the discussions with the owner, the conversation?
13. His own art, drawing, sketching, the wall, the final note?
14. The end, the opening of the skylight – and whether Nemo escapes or not?