Brisseau’s fascinating tale takes the most unsympathetic character imaginable, the child killer Tessier (Bruno Cremer), and pleads his case. Tessier, a scientist, has a rebellious handicapped adolescent daughter. His fury about her plight may be behind his earlier murderous spree against children who vandalised his lab. His treatment of his daughter is strict to the point of sadism. Nonetheless, Tessier evokes pity as much as revulsion. He’s a shy, taciturn figure who has lost his moral bearings. A deeply unsettling character study, Un jeu brutal is anchored by Cremer’s brooding performance, and freshened by the Buñuel-like surrealist touches and the director’s resolute avoidance of serial-killer movie conventions. —Axiom Films
Jean-Claude Brisseau (born 17 July 1944) is a French filmmaker best known for his 2002 film Secret Things (“Choses Secrètes”) and his 2006 film The Exterminating Angels (“Les Anges exterminateurs”).
In 2002 he was arrested on charges of harassment, fined and given a suspended one-year prison sentence. The plaintiffs were three women who had performed sex acts in front of him during their auditions. This was to form the basis of the The Exterminating Angels film.
He was formerly a professor at La Femis (Paris). His film Céline was nominated for the Golden Bear Award at the 42nd Berlin International Film Festival. At the Cannes Film Festival, he was awarded the France Culture Award in 2003 for Secret Things; in 1988 he was awarded the Special Award for the Youth. —Wikipedia
