Saint Ange (2004) Reviews

• Laugier = awesome

  cg_regan2009-10-08

  This is a film that made me question the existence of IMDb user comments. Seeing that it was the same director as Martyrs I decided to seek this film out, but then considered not bothering when I saw how generally bad the reviews here and elsewhere were. I'm really glad I ignored them and did watch it in the end. The problem with House of Voices is that it asks the audience to do a bit of the work. The story and the meaning behind it are not immediately obvious, there is an element of the film that is open to interpretation. It requires a bit of patience and an audience willing to think about what they're watching. For some people, the majority it seems, this clearly drains any potential enjoyment from the film. For me, and for a few others who have posted reviews here, it's not a problem at all, it's what makes the film so good. Aside from that there is a lot more to recommend here. The film looks beautiful, the performances are fantastic and there are some very effective scares generated with the help of a suitably creepy atmosphere. It is also truly unpredictable at times - something often missing from the modern horror film. Overall this is a bold, well-produced and interesting film that should be seen by anyone bored of films made to a formula.

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• Did I watch another movie?

  christian-2542009-05-14

  For the life of me, I cannot understand the fierce and almost resentful nature of many of the opinions given here. I was fully prepared to see another one of those over-blown affairs that put style over substance and usually bore me to bits after 15 minutes or so of their „Amélie"-type smugness and undeserved self-confidence. In fact. SAINT ANGE is a very careful, very sensitive story of a young woman who struggles with her feelings about her impending motherhood. The ending made perfect sense to me, whether read as a ghost story of sorts or a paranoid fantasy. The actresses are uniformly excellent, particularly Virginie Ledoyen and Lou Doillon, as is Catriona MacColl, who you might still remember from those colorful Fulci extravaganzas from the early eighties. The splendid photography makes good use of the grey and cold blue colours of the orphanage, which is embedded in green and brown tones – Mother Nature. The fantasy ending also introduces a clinical white for good measure. In view of the many cinematic exercises of today that talk their subtexts to death, SAINT ANGE uses a formal elegance that is breath-taking. Actually, I didn't find one single frame that was superfluous. In a way, the film also shares several themes with Laugier's well-received and harrowing MARTYRS, as it is basically another – albeit more tender – tale of a bruised young woman under dire circumstances. The ending of MARTYRS can also be read as a paranoid fantasy, with traces of hope hidden in a complex framework of depressing human depravity. No, I liked SAINT ANGE a lot. And, by the way, Joe Lo Duca – who started with Sam Raimi's THE EVIL DEAD – delivered a haunting and memorable music score. An excellent movie.

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• Not nearly as bad as the IMDb comments suggest

  ragingeric2007-12-02

  From the tone of these comments you would think this was the worst film ever made (and a few comments say that literally). It wasn't as good as "The Others" and such, but the worst movie ever made? Please. It was incredibly well shot and the minimalist production design was a welcome break for me from hyper-stylized films like "Silent Hill". The story did take a long time to develop, but the tension built nicely and it had a very Argento feel to me. Not every movie has to be "Transformers", moving at Mach 10 from the first frame. There's a thing called "subtlety" in story telling that is not very prevalent in modern films (especially American movies), and since this film used that to a fault maybe that was why everyone reacted so poorly. It certainly didn't beat you over the head with plot points, and did feel like a key scene or two was left out of the final cut (setting up the kittens for example) but overall was a nice, spooky little film. Everyone's opinion is valid if course, and it's not anywhere near my favorite film, but I had to defend it for some reason. Maybe it's because there are so many TRULY bad films out there that need to be savaged, and I want everyone to save their venom for the movies that truly deserve it.

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• Surprising, subtle, spooky film!

  ryandannar2012-10-21

  "House of Voices," the first feature film by Pascal Laugier, contains many of the elements that made his 2008 cult-classic "Martyrs" so great. Both films start off in a predictable, genre-specific way -- then gradually reveal darker, stranger, subterranean layers that defy our expectations. Of the two films, "House" is lighter fare, while "Martyrs" is far bloodier and much, much more disturbing. "House of Voices," begins as a slow-build Gothic ghost-story, in the vein of 2007's "The Orphanage" or 2001's "The Others." "House" works quite well on this level, featuring engaging female performances, a slowly-unravelling mystery, some handsome cinematography, a lush dramatic score, and some moments of genuine dread. But then, in its final act, the film takes a sharp and surprising turn toward the surreal. I could describe what happens in these scenes, but what really makes them work is the way they're filmed -- the simple strange visual power of these moments. Suffice to say, while you might have a general idea where the plot of this movie is headed, you will probably not foresee exactly how it arrives there. The final scenes of this movie plumb some nightmarish depths, departing stylistically from the subtle Gothic-horror which came before, and entering far stranger territory. Don't worry; it all adds up. This isn't one of those horror films which leads you on, only to end with such strangeness that you have no hope of understanding what the movie was about. No, everything here makes sense in terms of the film's plot. It's just that the film's sudden stylistic change is jarring and surreal, evoking the kinds of unexpected shifts we might experience in our deepest nightmares. For me, this movie worked quite well. I see some others here have given it bad reviews. I gather that's because they don't know how to tell a thoughtful, well-made film from worthless pap like the "Saw" franchise. This certainly isn't the best movie I've ever seen, but it's a very fine, thoughtful, moderately scary film with a bizarre final act that might haunt you afterward. If you like this film, and you have a strong stomach, I'd certainly recommend Laugier's "Martyrs." It plays the same stylistic tricks as this film, but much more intensely, and to greater effect. Word of warning, though: It is a far more disturbing film than "House of Voices."

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• God awful

  samago27862005-10-19

  Out of the awful movies I've rented over the years, I seriously can not think of one that was worse than Saint Ange. There was essentially no plot whatsoever in this film. The girl arrives and we learn she is pregnant. All fine, but then we see Anna trying to inflict a miscarriage. OK, fine again. But then, what in the world is the significance of her voyage, to what seems like hundreds of feet below ground. The underground ward is in in seemingly immaculate condition and is home to a bunch of bald children. We see Anna go into labor. OK again. Well so how is she able to get back up to the main level. Maybe there is no answer to this question but surely there should be an explanation for why she IS found back on the main level, dead, clutching her still connected child??? If the movie was not terrible enough, in the last disturbing scene, we get to see a dead Anna nursing her dead child with the dead bald children observing. If anyone has any clarifications on any of these points I would love to hear about it.

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