By Geno McGahee
“Why do you only feel alive when you look into the eyes of your victims?” – Pierre Tardieu
Film Movement releases on January 5th, CRUEL, a very interesting and unique perspective on a serial killer movie. Written and directed by French crime novelist, Eric Cherriere, CRUEL brings you into the dark mind of a Pierre Tardieu (Jean-Jacques Lelte) and his terrible deeds. Cherriere does a lot of things right with this film and provides an understanding of a twisted individual. It’s a rare occasion when a killer can be presented in a graphic and violent way but you can still feel sorry for him. Without question, it was a unique approach.
Pierre cannot find normalcy in life. He is single and has to rely on temp agencies to survive. He bounces around from menial job to menial job and spends his time off talking to his sickly father. The one-sided conversations and lack of any meaning in life gave Pierre a new purpose. He stalks and kills people with a set of rules that he has given himself, but there is one rule that he is beginning to get tired of. The rule of being unknown is bothersome for Pierre. He has never had any value in life, but these acts make him something even if it makes him infamous. He is sick of being ignored.
He brutally kidnaps a real estate agent, Sylvie (Olivia Kerverdo), and locks her up in his basement. He attempts a friendship with her of sorts, bringing her coffee and speaking to her openly. She tries to appeal to his kindness but the anger-filled side of Pierre comes out and he unleashes his rage. The same goes with his next victim, the soon-to-be married Hugo (Matila Malliarakis). For the first time, Pierre invades a party and kidnaps Hugo, risking his anonymity. Once again, he and Hugo speak and we get a better window into who this killer is and what motivates him. His childhood still consumes him and his lack of fitting in with the real world have combined to make this monster, but things are about to change.
Laure (Magali Moreau) comes into Pierre’s life. As Pierre kills, he documents his thoughts in third person in notebooks that he buys at the bookstore. Laure crosses paths with him and they strike up a romance, bringing elements into the life of the killer that he did not expect. Maybe he can stop killing and live a normal life. If he can create a sense of normalcy with Laure, there may be a chance, but the police are getting close to uncovering his deadly secret. It seems that after he meets Laure, his attention to detail slips and he allows the detectives evidence to figure things out. On top of that, he’s gotten cocky and has been sending the police items as many serial killers do. It’s not good enough to kill people. They have to get the credit for all of their work.
The police bring him in and he sees a connection between Laure and one of the victims that he killed. Laure has put a very human face on the victims and his reflections lead to a major decision that will change his life and the life of many others. He does what needs to be done.
CRUEL is a very good film. Running nearly 2 hours long, I felt that it may have been a little long, but it flies by at an incredible rate. That is thanks in large part to the fantastic writing and story-telling of Eric Cherriere. He has created a villain that was lost and eventually discovered what he was looking for. Watching this journey was very compelling and Jean-Jacques Lelte plays the part very well. He could be the soft and sincere boyfriend to Laure or the deadly cold killer to everyone else. It was fascinating. Magali Moreau was also very good and her transitions throughout were impressive. She said a lot at times without saying very much.
Although the roles were relatively small, Olivia Kerverdo and Matila Malliarakis were outstanding. It was easy to root for them both as they reasoned and pleaded for their lives. They were very genuine and I am still hoping that they will find them both alive. I’ll have to check the deleted scenes and keep my fingers crossed.
CRUEL is a great title for it and it’s not merely about the killer and his acts. Cruel represents how the killer sees life and how his life played out. In a film world filled of torture porn, CRUEL shows how to do a film like this right. It reminded me greatly of RED DRAGON and was nearly as good.
Rating: 8/10
