lgian director Fabrice Du Welz returns to the Toronto International Film Festival with Inexorable, an erotic thriller about a mysterious young woman who infiltrates and upends the lives of an acclaimed novelist and his family.
Bestselling author Marcel Bellmer (Benoît Poelvoorde) and his wealthy publisher and wife, Jeanne (Mélanie Doutey), move into her deceased father’s luxurious countryside château. Marcel hopes he’ll find inspiration for his next book, but the pressure of living up to the success of his first hit novel, Inexorable, weighs on him. Not only was it hugely popular, it also brought Jeanne into his life as both his first publisher and his wife of twenty-five years.
The family has no idea about the disastrous repercussions ahead when the awkward and inscrutable Gloria (Alba Gaia Bellugi) enters their lives by way of finding the family’s new dog, Ulysse, after he briefly goes missing on the massive estate. An instant hero to Marcel and Jeanne’s young daughter Lucie (Janaina Halloy), Gloria quickly becomes a staple at the château. With Marcel and Jeanne apparently too busy with work, interior renovations, and reigniting their sex life to focus on their daughter or train their new dog, they rely on Gloria—a young woman they know nothing about aside from the tragic, vague orphan back story she gave them.
Gloria wastes no time cementing her place within the family and manipulating her way closer to Marcel, to whom she admits she’s a massive fan of his work, Inexorable in particular. Her eerie nature gives way to downright sinister, and her manipulations seem simultaneously calculated and spontaneous. She gruesomely fakes a mugging attack to manipulate the Bellmers into inviting her to stay at the château, and she schemes her way into being offered a full-time position working for the family. She displays a disturbing penchant for biting, the kind that rips out chunks of skin. Viewers quickly realize the lengths she’ll go to in order to achieve her plans, but although we’re wary of Gloria’s intentions to infiltrate the family and seduce Marcel, her true motivations and ultimate goal remain obscure throughout the film.
Poelvoorde may be the bigger star, but Bellugi is the one who shines in the film. Her layered performance as Gloria is equally entrancing as it is disturbing, and it enriches the film. No one is safe from Gloria, including Ulysse; she’s a snake waiting to strike, and it keeps the tension high and the viewers on edge. Bellugi encompasses Gloria’s power in a multitude of ways, embodying the “older sister” for Lucie, the lost young soul for Jeanne, and a seductress-turned-nightmare for Marcel. Under Gloria’s manipulation, Marcel shifts from an egocentric man into a blithering, desperate mess, and it serves to showcase Bellugi’s ability to dominate the screen. Even Halloy’s breakout moment which involves a freaky but hilarious dance screams of Gloria’s influence and Bellugi’s presence.
Gorgeous cinematography from Manu Dacosse captures the historic beauty of the Bellmer’s estate and also the uncanny as Gloria inhabits a ghostly presence inside the château. Du Welz adds to the nature of suspense by bathing certain scenes in red lighting, reflecting the confluence of desire and blood which permeates the film.
With a set and production design ripe with opportunity, it is somewhat disappointing that Du Welz doesn’t utilize the château to its full potential. It could have been a character itself in the film, full as it is of secrets and dangers lying in wait. Indeed, the plot sets us up to believe the château’s inner workings will play a key role in the narrative climax; Jeanne drops many hints about the dangers of the old staircase and its impending collapse, and time and again the camera returns to spiralling shots of the winding staircase, sending viewers and the family deeper into the pits of disaster. It seems inevitable the film will end in tragedy on the staircase, and it’s somewhat anti-climactic when it does not.
On the surface the plot is fairly typical of its genre, and the film sometimes stumbles through its execution of a story that leaves key elements ambiguous in a way that detracts from the film rather than adds satisfying mystery. However, Du Welz also plays with genre elements such as character in exciting ways and maintains intrigue throughout the film. Bellugi’s performance captivates viewers, and the escalating tension and shifting dynamics in this character-driven film culminate in a thrilling sequence of events.
Written by Joséphine Darcy Hopkins, Aurélien Molas, and Du Welz, Inexorable had its world premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival.
Score: B