Alice Kruger and Matthias Schoenaerts star in Alice Winocour’s gripping paranoid thriller, DISORDER
DISORDER (Alice Winocour, 2015)
IFC Center, 323 Sixth Ave. at West Third St., 212-924-7771
Lincoln Plaza Cinema, 1886 Broadway between 62nd & 63rd Sts., 212-757-2280
Opens Friday, August 12
www.sodapictures.com
French director Alice Winocour follows up her 2012 Cannes hit, Augustine, with the pulse-pounding, heart-racing paranoid thriller Disorder. Matthias Schoenaerts is sensational as Vincent, a role Winocour wrote specifically for him. A veteran of special forces in Afghanistan, Vincent has been sidelined back in France, diagnosed with PTSD and awaiting medical clearance for a return to the field. He is distraught and frustrated, as his identity as a soldier is his life. While waiting to hear from the doctors, he is hired by his team leader, Denis (Paul Hamy), to join a security force for a party at a French Riviera estate, known as Maryland, owned by powerful Lebanese businessman Imad Whalid (Percy Kemp). During the party, Vincent witnesses an altercation involving Whalid, cabinet minister Pierre Duroy (Philippe Haddad), and some mysterious figures. Later, when Whalid suddenly has to leave on a business trip, Vincent comes back to the estate as a one-person security force protecting Whalid’s trophy wife, Jessie (Diane Kruger), and her young son, Ali (Zaïd Errougui-Demonsant). Vincent is instantly suspicious of everything and everyone, constantly looking over his shoulder and scanning for threats ahead, which disturbs Jessie — until it appears that Vincent just may be right.
Disorder is a deep, intense cinematic experience as Winocour, cinematographer George LeChaptois, editor Julien Lacheray, and composer Gesaffelstein create a dark world filled with unexpected twists and turns. The story was inspired by real-life interviews Winocour conducted with elite soldiers, while the different techniques she employs in crafting the film were influenced by filmmakers Michelangelo Antonioni and Alfred Hitchcock and photographers Philip-Lorca diCorcia and Gregory Crewdson, resulting in a taut, gripping thriller that never lets the audience take a breath. It’s an intense psychological journey that combines various genres, incorporating horror, home invasion, action-adventure, war, and politics into something unique and seductive. Schoenaerts (The Danish Girl, A Bigger Splash) is mesmerizing as Vincent; the entire film is shot from his frenzied point of view, and he pulls it off magnificently. (To get into the role, he embodied his character 24/7, sleeping only a few hours a day to attain the proper mind-set.) Kruger (Troy, Inglourious Basterds) is alluring as Jessie, who is cautiously skeptical of Vincent’s protection, refusing to acknowledge the situation she and her family are in; the scene in which Jessie and Vincent fall asleep on couches is a tender-hearted moment in their complex relationship. Winocour effectively turns the mansion into a war zone, one that exists inside Vincent’s head as well. It’s an exquisitely made, captivating film, as sharp as a knife edge, unyielding and unrelenting every step of the way. Disorder opens August 12 at IFC Center and Lincoln Plaza, with Winocour participating in Q&As at the latter after the 7:15 show and at the former following the 8:00 screening on opening night.