The debut feature from Gaspar Noe, director of the controversial Irrèversible, just as potent and confronting. I Stand Alone is set in France in 1980 and tells the story of The Butcher (Philippe Nahon) a retired horsemeat peddler, locked into a loveless marriage with his nagging, pregnant wife and a hateful mother-in-law. Living in their cramped apartment and taunted by the women every moment of the day, The Butcher is poised on the edge, seething with bitterness and hatred for a world he must endure, ready to explode. And then one day….he does. –Accent Cinema
Baldheaded Franco-Argentine filmmaker Gaspar Noé has made some seriously disturbing films during his relatively short career. He has also won several critical awards and festival acclaim for each of his works. Noé made his first film in 1991 with the short Carne, an introduction to the character of the Butcher, played by Philippe Nahon. An angry man, the Butcher seeks revenge on whoever hurt his disabled daughter. After working as an actor, cinematographer, writer, and director on some other projects, Noé made his first feature film, I Stand Alone, continuing the story of the Butcher after he does time in jail and abandons his daughter. In 2002 he received major public notice and outrage with the controversial Irréversible, mostly due to the much-publicized eight-minute rape scene. Starring real-life married couple Monica Bellucci and Vincent Cassel, the film is a brutal look at male violence shown in reverse chronological order. —allmovie guide
It totally comes off as pretentious. Even as a character study, it's just a poor-man's taxi driver. I'm not impressed at all. In a lot of ways, it felt like a Bobcat Goldthwait film without the humor. I like Irreversible a lot, but this was some bullshit.
I’d argue that this is Noé’s finest film so far.
For one, Phillipe Nahon’s uncanny portrayal of an aging blue-collar man beaten up by life is spectacularly believable and empathetic – in large… read review