Alice Winocour's Disorder is a subtly powerful tale of one man's struggle to get back to living a normal life, one in which the threat of violence and death doesn't surround him at every turn. Effectively discharged from the army due to his struggles with PTSD, Vincent has recently return to France after serving in Afghanistan. Struggling to adapt the relative tranquility and struggling with bouts of inadequacy, Vincent takes up a job as part of a security detail for a wealthy Lebanese businessman, a job he views as temporary, still holding out hope that he can rejoin the front lines, so to speak. Featuring a strong perfromance by Matthias Schoenaerts, Vincent is revealed as a character who is still completely engaged in the world where danger lurks around every corner, a character who is always looking for the next potential threat. When the husband leaves town for a few days, Vincent finds himself responsible for the man's wife, Jessie, and their young son, Ali, which becomes more of a challenge when it is discovered that this man's business may not have been exactly with the most friendly people. Alice Winocour's Disorder is an extremely well-crafted film, using both visual & sound design to tell this tale of a man who may be forever changed from his time in Afghanistan. The first half of the film makes its bread and butter in perception and intrigue, with the filmmakers intentional making it unclear how much danger actually exists in Vincent's line of work, exhibiting his always intense demeanor with that of a relatively tranquil and fun-loving dinner party,with Vincent persistently scanning the landscape for potential threats. The voyeuristic nature of security detail is emphasized through the filmmaker's use of photography, emphasizing the mystery and intrigue centered around the wealthy businessman dealings but also the underlying sense of paranoia which Vincent is a victim of, a man who sees a potential threat of violence lurking around every corner. Disorder's stylistic choices when it comes to expressing Vincent's struggles range from high pitch frequencies to low monotonous bass thumping, effectively assaulting the viewer in an attempt to place the audience in the headspace of this character who at times feels like he has more in common with an abused dog than a human being due to his quickly combustable nature.. Alice Winocour's stylistic flourishes never feel stagnant, abrasive, or overused, as the fillmmakers effectively create an atmospheric sense of torment and paranoia. While Disorder is not a film with a ton of action, when it does come the filmmakers deliver with a few sequences of abrupt violence, which left met startled and grasping for air. Disorder is a film that explores whether a character such as Vincent can ever recover from his struggles, suggesting that he may never be able to live a life of tranquility where he can relax and care for others on a human level. The heart of the film is centered around Vincent's struggle, with his downright near paternal nature of his profession serving as a catalyst for rehabilitation. Featuring two strong central performances from Matthias Schoenaerts & Diane Kruger, Alice Winocour's DIsorder is a sensory-fueled experience about a man's struggle to get past his underlying combustibility, with the relationship he slowly forms with Diane seemingly his only chance in the short term to rehabilitate into society and fine some semblance of peace in his war-torn, combustible psyche.
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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