The Intruder: Maybe It's a Trick of the Light

THE INTRUDER / L'intrus
(Claire Denis, France, 2004, 35mm, 130 minutes)

The same, the same, the same again 

To steal the time and haunt the graves 

Just because it's there 

Don't mean you see it anywhere 

Maybe it's a trick of the light 

Maybe, yeah

--Gomez, "We Haven't Turned Around" (1999)

Where to begin with the latest burst of brilliance from cinematic illusionist Claire Denis--with the spooky opening sequence or the ecstatic conclusion? Or should I simply attempt to describe what The Intruder is about? 

Normally, beginning with an overview would make the most sense, except I haven't yet figured out what's real and what's illusory. I was about to say I haven't figured it all out yet, but I'm not so sure that's even possible.

Last year, I caught up with Denis's 1994 spooky-sexy I Can't Sleep, which employs a similar structure, i.e. there are a number of different characters and the filmmaker keeps shifting among them as the plot progresses. 

That narrative was inspired by an actual case in which a gay, mixed-race thief (played by Denis favorite Alex Descas) murdered elderly Frenchwomen and relieved them of their valuables. I don't know if the real-life culprits were ever caught. Fairly early on, Denis reveals who the fictional ones are, but doesn't explain their motives. That said, she drops a lot of clues.

The Intruder is even more ambitious and laden with even more clues--or questions, depending on your point of view. 

The cast is bigger and there are more locations: France, Switzerland, South Korea, and French Polynesia. As with previous films, Agnès Godard is back as cinematographer, Tindersticks singer and guitarist Stuart Staples is back as composer, and most of the actors are regulars. Godard and Staples are working at the top of their game, though Denis uses the electric guitar-based score sparingly. 

Everything revolves around aquamarine-eyed Louis (Michel Subor), and Denis spends the most time with him, except he remains an enigma.

Here then are a few facts about her protagonist. He lives in a spartan cabin in the Swiss Alps. He has two beautiful wolf-like dogs to keep him company. He's in his late-60s, but appears younger. Louis is in great shape; he swims, bikes--even strolls about in the nude. Sometimes he sleeps with an attractive middle-aged woman (Bambou, widow of legendary musician and provocateur Serge Gainsbourg), who works as a pharmacist in town. But something is wrong with his heart. It can't keep up with him.

Louis also likes to flirt with the sexy dog breeder and musher down the road (Betty Blue's Béatrice Dalle, billed as "The Queen of the Northern Hemisphere"), who humors him, but otherwise keeps her distance. Were they once lovers? It seems possible. 

The Queen isn't his only neighbor. The woods are filled with others, but it isn't clear who they are. There's a Russian woman (Katerina Golubeva from Leos Carax' Pola X), a young vagabond with a dog (Lolita Chammah as "The Wild Woman"), and a group of hunters. It occurred to me that a few of these shadowy individuals might not really exist. Or they do, but some of their actions are products of Louis' increasingly feverish imagination.

One day, he goes to his computer and sends a message that he's ready for the "experimental option." Long story short, he's arranged for a black market heart, and travels to Pusan for the operation. The next time Denis catches up with him, the new ticker is in place, and he's off to Tahiti. 

Louis was based there once and fathered a son with a local woman. His other son, Sidney (Beau Travail's Grégoire Colin), lives with his family in France. Post-transplant, Louis prioritizes connecting with the son he's never known rather than the son he knows and from whom he's estranged. Was that always part of the plan, or has the foreign organ changed him?

As for those other characters, it was the beautiful  Russian who brokered the heart deal and appears to be following him around the world. 

Does she represent his guilty conscience? Possibly, because earlier in the film he fatally injured someone with whom she was associated. Was it an act of self-defense? Did it really even happen? Then, while he's out of town, the vagabond breaks into his cabin and makes herself at home. Shortly afterward, she disappears. Drops of blood are left behind, and the dogs are gone, too. Did the hunters get her? After all, Denis depicts them dragging a body through the snow...except it appears to belong to a young man.

I could say more, but I fear I may have already said too much. From my description, you might think I'm suggesting a parallel to Alejandro González Iñárritu's 2003 grimfest 21 Grams, which also concerned a heart transplant recipient (Sean Penn in his best performance). Inspired by the novella L'Intrus, The Intruder is much more mysterious. "Confusing" is a word detractors might use, and I wouldn't take issue with that, although confusion--or "willful obfuscation"--can be a good thing in the right hands.

As in latter-period Buñuel, Denis leaves out crucial pieces of information. I was never in doubt that she knew what she was doing, but I wasn't always sure why she was doing it. I'm still not, but I was spellbound--and the spell hasn't broken yet. While 1999's Beau Travail may represent the pinnacle of her achievement, The Intruder comes close. Highly recommended.



The Intruder plays April 7-13, Fri.--Thurs., at 7pm and 9:30 at Northwest Film Forum. Local critic and educator Kathleen Murphy will introduce the first screening. The NWFF is located at 1515 12th Ave on Capitol Hill. Please call (206) 329-2629 for general info or (206) 267-5380 for show times. Images from 4 Columns (Beatrice Dalle and Michel Subor with dogs), The Metrograph (Subor profile), and Film at Lincoln Center (Katia Golubeva).