HAUTE TENSION (SWITCHBLADE ROMANCE)
France, 2003, 91 minutes, Colour.
Cecile de France, Maiwenn le Besco, Philippe Nahon.
Directed by Alexandre Aja.
Haute Tension starts out as a routine thriller which turns into a slasher film. It is very bloody indeed, brutal at times. Just when audiences think there could be no more, there is. However, there is what seems an extraordinary twist towards the end of the film which makes a lot more sense of what has gone on before and gives it an even more eerie feeling. The film was directed by Alexandre Aja, the son of film director Alexandre Arcady. His mother was a film critic. After making several smaller films, he made this film which had quite an impact around the world. He was then invited by Wes Craven to the United States to direct the remake of The Hills Have Eyes.
The film stars Cecile de France who appeared in such films as Russian Dolls and I Was a Singer. She is very effective in the central role – especially when the twist occurs.
Many audiences will find it far too much to watch the film, the murder scenes being particularly gruesome and there is for many, too much blood.
1.The impact of the film? As a drama? Thriller? Slasher film? With a twist?
2.The focus time in which the action takes place, the afternoon, the night? The opening with the feet dangling – and reappearing at the end given all the meaning?
3.The photography style, in the car, the close-ups, the flexibility of camera movement in the travels? In the home? For the brutal scenes, the murders? For the switching back from one character to the other? The musical score?
4.The title and its impact? The English translation and its suitability, Switchblade Romance?
5.The ordinariness of the opening except for Marie’s dream, her being chased, stopping the driver on the road, her explaining that it seemed she was running from herself? Her relationship with Alex, their travelling together, going to Alex’s home, Marie sleeping, playing the records, their talk? The bonds between the two? The character of Alex – as driver, friend, studies?
6.Their arrival at the house, the parents waiting for Alex to arrive, the young boy in his cowboy suit, having the bath – perfectly ordinary? The meal, the bonds within the family, the welcome to Marie? Going to bed, an ordinary night?
7.Audience glimpse of the brutal killer, the brutality of the death of the woman, hearing the voices, the scene with the truck and the head? Anticipation of brutality to come?
8.The tension in the filming of the intruder, his age, appearance, seemingly ordinary, the audience knowing his brutality? The father going downstairs, the violent confrontation with the father, his death? The murder of the mother – and her survival for some time, confronting Marie in the closet? The boy running from the house, in the cornfields, the man pursuing him? The irony of the cornfields where Alex played a joke on Marie chasing her? Alex being tied up, gagged? Marie, her waking up, observing what was happening, her fright, hiding, under the bed, the murderer not finding her despite his looking everywhere, the bathroom, the other rooms? Marie and her going to Alex, not untying her, not wanting the murderer to see that there was anyone else in the house?
9.The murderer, Alex as victim, her being put in the truck, Marie and her hurrying after the truck and getting in with Alex? Trying to comfort her?
10.The stopping at the service station, Jimmy alone, his serving the man, the petrol, the whisky? The man killing him – and commenting on what Jimmy was glancing at? Marie and her fear, hiding? Their going on their way, Alex in the truck?
11.Marie, ringing the police, their arrival, looking at the video footage – with Marie killing Jimmy?
12.The effect of the twist, Marie as the killer, her imagining herself as the brutal man? Her pursuit of Alex, Alex realising that Marie was mad? The emotional and sexual attachment? The stopping of the vehicle, the crash, Alex trying to escape? Alex running onto the road in the way that Marie did in the woods, the same driver? His bewilderment, inability to start the car, Marie approaching with the chainsaw? The death of the driver? The pursuit of Alex on the road, her pleading? Alex killing her?
13.Marie in the asylum, Alex observing outside, Marie’s look? Her dangling feet?
14.The echoes of the tradition of the American horror film, Scream, Friday the 13th, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre…? Transformed into a French context? How well did the film, in retrospect, work as a psychological thriller about a schizophrenic woman?
