I Stand Alone (1998)

A horse meat butcher's life and mind begins to breakdown as he lashes out against various factions of society while attempting to reconnect with his estranged daughter.

Director:

Gaspar Noé

Writer:

Gaspar Noé

Stars:

Philippe Nahon, Blandine Lenoir, Frankie Pain

5 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Philippe Nahon	...	Le Boucher
Blandine Lenoir	...	Sa Fille
Frankie Pain	...	Sa Maitresse (as Frankye Pain)
Martine Audrain	...	Sa Belle-Mere
Zaven	...	L'Homme a la Morale
Jean-François Rauger	...	Agent Immobilier
Guillaume Nicloux	...	Directeur du Supermarche
Olivier Doran	...	Presentateur (voice)
Aïssa Djabri	...	Docteur Choukroun (as Aissa Djabri)
Serge Faurie	...	Directeur d'Hospice
Frédéric Pfohl	...	Infirmier de Hospice (as Frederic Pfohl)
Stéphanie Sec	...	Infirmiere de Hospice (as Stephanie Sec)
Arlette Balkis	...	Femme Mourante
Gil Bertharion Jr.	...	Camionneur (as Gil Bertharion Jr)
Rado	...	Gardien de l'Hotel

Storyline

The Butcher (known from Noe's short film Carne) has done some time in jail after beating up the guy who tried to seduce his teenage mentally-handicapped daughter. Now he wants to start a new life. He leaves his daughter in an institution and moves to Lille suburbs with his mistress. She promised him a new butcher shop. She lied. The butcher decides to go back to Paris and find his daughter.

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Plot Keywords:

butcher | incest | violence | revenge | paris france | 

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Taglines:

In the bowels of France

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

One of actor Michael Shannon's favorite films.

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Goofs

The main character tells the manager of the abattoir that he is 50 years old. However, the narration at the start of the movie states that the main character was born in 1939, and the movie is set in 1980, which would make him 40 or 41 years old.

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Quotes

The Butcher: [after an unsuccessful job interview at a slaughterhouse] What? A fairy treating me like that? Tell me I'm dreaming! As if I didn't know his wife dropped him the day she caught him having his sphincter rimmed by an employee. All the horsemeat butchers in Paris know that little Mr. Blanchat likes cock. He lets his ass do the blow jobs. And who's he to be so proud? I hear his father was of the same ilk. I wonder why there are so many queers among the rich. Must be their lack of strenuous effort. ...

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Alternate Versions

To receive an 18 certificate two shots of sexual penetration during the viewing of a hardcore sex film at a cinema were blurred for the UK release. The video featured the same optically edited print.

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Connections

Referenced in Love (2015)

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Soundtracks

Paulo
Written by Casimir Zoba (uncredited)
Performed by Zao
© Productions Justement · Lido Melodies

User Reviews

I Stand Alone (1998) ***

Good, well-directed French film in the vein of TAXI DRIVER, where an out-of-work, 50-year-old butcher slowly begins to lose control with the people and the world around him as he encounters one indignity after another. Unable to find a job no matter how hard he tries, having to contend with abuse from the fat and controlling dominant woman he lives with just because she has a few dollars, facing the burden of having fathered an illegitimate girl who now lives in a home and is unable to communicate, the tensions mount until the butcher is in danger of taking his frustrations out on himself and the miserable scum around him. The butcher's bizarre feelings and motivations are translated to us through what he's thinking, instead of relying on talk.

This is a brutal, honest, powerful movie that pulls no punches and draws the viewer into the mind of the man slowly going over the edge. Many people will be able to relate to feeling as lost and hopeless as he does, at least at some dark point in their lives. Here is a foreign film that succeeds in staying consistently interesting and captivating, despite its not having a plethora of special effects and pretty young teen stars (which so many recent American films seem to require). *** out of ****

Details

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

17 February 1999 (France)

Also Known As:

I Stand Alone

Filming Locations:

France

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$6,955, 21 March 1999

Gross USA:

$6,955

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$6,955

Company Credits

Production Co:

Canal+, Les Cinémas de la Zone, Love Streams Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.66 : 1