Humanité (1999)

When an 11-year-old girl is brutally raped and murdered in a quiet French village, a police detective who has forgotten how to feel emotions--because of the death of his own family in some kind of accident--investigates the crime, which turns out to ask more questions than it answers.

Director:

Bruno Dumont

Writer:

Bruno Dumont

Stars:

Emmanuel Schotté, Séverine Caneele, Philippe Tullier

3 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Emmanuel Schotté	...	l'inspecteur de police Pharaon De Winter
Séverine Caneele	...	Domino
Philippe Tullier	...	Joseph
Ghislain Ghesquère	...	Le commissaire de police
Darius	...	L'infirmier (as Daniel Leroux)
Daniel Petillon	...	Jean - un policier
Robert Bunzi	...	Le policier anglais
Dominique Pruvost	...	L'ouvrier virulent
Jean-Luc Dumont	...	Le CRS
Diane Gray	...	La voyageuse anglaise
Paul Gray	...	Le voyageur anglais
Sophie Vercamer	...	Une ouvrière
Murielle Houche	...	Une ouvrière
Pascaline Guyot	...	Une ouvrière
Liliane Facq	...	Une ouvrière

Storyline

In a town near Lille, melancholy police superintendent Pharaon De Winter lives with his mother. An 11-year-old girl has been raped and murdered. Over the next week, De Winter investigates and grieves, his face nearly expressionless. He bikes, he gardens. He accompanies his neighbors, Joseph and Domino, to dinner and to the seaside; he even observes them in vigorous if not rough coitus. For Domino, sex seems her way of connecting. Does she fancy Pharaon? A plowed field, the sea, Pharaon's flowers, the pudenda of Domino and of the ravaged girl - this mix of images of beauty, evil, and possibility assaults Pharaon as he tries to do his job and hold on to his humanity.

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Plot Keywords:

female pubic hair | female masturbation in public | vulva | spreadeagle | voyeur | 

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery

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Details

Official Sites:

Winstar Cinema (US distrib.)

Country:

France

Language:

French English

Release Date:

27 October 1999 (France)

Also Known As:

Humanité

Filming Locations:

Bailleul, Nord, France

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$10,075, 18 June 2000, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$113,495, 24 September 2000

Company Credits

Production Co:

3B Productions,Arte France Cinéma,C.R.R.A.V

Technical Specs

Runtime:

141 min (The DVD of this film runs for *exactly* 2 hours, 21 minutes, and 30 seconds.)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This marks as Emmanuel Schotté's only film performance.

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Quotes

[first lines]
l'inspecteur de police Pharaon De Winter: I'm coming.

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Alternate Versions

Italian distributor BIM originally removed about 2 minutes of sex footage from the Italian theatrical release in order to avoid a 'not under 18' rating. When the press criticized this self-censorship attempt, the distributor reissued the film in its original, integral form.

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Connections

Featured in Kinomagazin: Das Schöne ist mein Dämon - Der Filmemacher Bruno Dumont (2007)

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Soundtracks

Le Vertigo, Rondeau. Modérément
from "Pièce de Clavecin"
Music by Pancrace Royer
Performed by William Christie
Courtesy of harmonia mundi

User Reviews

Not for everyone maybe, but for me.

It is said that Humanite is not for everyone. And i would surely support that claim since I am a steward in the Tel Aviv Cinematheque and had to get up, about every two minutes to open the door to someone sneaker.

Still, I managed to get quite a clear impression of the film which is in my opinion a superb one. Although many people find themselves puzzled by the characters (virtually everyone in the show i attended came out of the cinema looking almost personally insulted by the film) i think that if you know and love Dostoevsky's books you won't find them so hard to understand. Pharaon is simply Prince Mishkin. He is assulted by the bluntness and cruelness of existence and the crime he tries to solve - but is overwhelmed with humility, love and compassion to the world. While his friend make love in a way that seems almost like a rape he makes love to the world, to the clods of the earth. When he rides his bicycle his upper body seems to be moving as if he was making love. But most of all he feels diligent compassion to the world and it's assaulters. The film shows the violence everywhere. Pharaon sees this violence and with his deep gaze manages to disarm it (with protesters and with Domino). I think that Pharaon is a really great acting performance. Pharaon like Mishkin in Dostoevky's notebooks 'sees not in the faces of people but in their hearts.'. The investigation taking place is like an investigation of the inner self. Of the human soul, of humanity. It's a category against Humanity and Pharaon's who is the categor manages to find compassion to humanity. Its sort of like an 'apocalypse now' in rural france.