The Intruder (2004)

An emotionally cold man leaves the safety of his Alpine home to seek a heart transplant and an estranged son.

Director:

Claire Denis

Writers:

Claire Denis, Jean-Pol Fargeau

Stars:

Michel Subor, Grégoire Colin, Yekaterina Golubeva

4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview:
Michel Subor	...	Louis Trebor
Grégoire Colin	...	Sidney
Yekaterina Golubeva	...	La jeune femme russe (as Katia Golubeva)
Bambou	...	La pharmacienne
Florence Loiret Caille	...	Antoinette (as Florence Loiret-Caille)
Lolita Chammah	...	La sauvageonne
Alex Descas	...	Le prêtre
Dong-ho Kim	...	Le propriétaire du bateau
Se-tak Chang	...	L'associé du propriétaire du bateau
Hong-suk Park	...	L'homme du marché aux poissons
Edwin Alin	...	Le patron de la quincaillerie
Henri Tetainanuarii	...	Henri
Jean-Marc Teriipaia	...	Tony
Anna Tetuaveroa	...	La mère
Béatrice Dalle	...	La reine de l'hémisphère nord

Storyline

Louis Trebor, a man nearing 70, lives alone with dogs in the forest near the French-Swiss border. He has heart problems, seeks a transplant, and then goes in search of a son sired years before in Tahiti. Told elliptically, with few words, we see Louis as possibly heartless, ignoring a son who lives nearby who is himself an attentive father to two young children, one named for Louis. He leaves his bed one night - and his lover - to kill an intruder; he dreams, usually of violence. Will his body accept his heart? Will his son accept his offer?

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Plot Keywords:

male frontal nudity | male rear nudity | heart | violence | tahiti | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Unrated

Did You Know?

Trivia

Archival footage from Paul Gégauff's Le Reflux is used for the scenes with a younger Michel Stubor.

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Connections

Featured in Women Make Film: A New Road Movie Through Cinema (2018)

User Reviews

Others in the fragile Self

First of all, I liked very much the central idea of locating the '' intruders'', Others in the fragile Self, on various levels - mainly subconscious but sometimes more allegorical. In fact the intruders are omnipresent throughout the film : in the Swiss-French border where the pretagonist leads secluded life; in the his recurring daydream and nightmare; inside his ailing body after heart transplantation.... In the last half of the film, he becomes intruder himself, returning in ancient french colony in the hope of atoning for the past.

The overall tone is bitter rather than pathetic, full of regrets and guilts, sense of failure being more or less dominant. This is a quite grim picture of an old age, ostensibly self-dependent but hopelessly void and lonely inside. The directer composes the images more to convey passing sensations of anxiety and desire than any explicit meanings. Some of them are mesmerizing, not devoid of humor though, kind of absurdist play only somnambulist can visualize.

Details

Country:

France

Language:

French English Korean Russian Polynesian

Release Date:

4 May 2005 (France)

Also Known As:

El intruso

Filming Locations:

Japan

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$3,527, 25 December 2005

Gross USA:

$40,853

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$40,853

Company Credits

Production Co:

Ognon Pictures, Arte France Cinéma, Conseil Régional de Franche-Comté

Technical Specs

Runtime:

130 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1