The Intruder (2004 film)

The Intruder
FrenchL'intrus
Directed byClaire Denis
Written by
Based onL'intrus
by Jean-Luc Nancy
Produced byHumbert Balsan
Starring
CinematographyAgnès Godard
Edited byNelly Quettier
Music byStuart A. Staples
Release dates
  • 9 September 2004 (2004-09-09) (Venice)
  • 4 May 2005 (2005-05-04) (France)
Running time
130 minutes
CountryFrance
Languages
  • French
  • English
  • Korean
  • Russian
  • Polynesian
Box office$40,853[1]

The Intruder (French: L'intrus) is a 2004 French drama film directed by Claire Denis. The film had its world premiere in the Competition section at the 61st Venice International Film Festival on 9 September 2004. It was released in France on 4 May 2005.

Plot

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Louis Trebor, an ex-mercenary living in the Jura Mountains, is suffering increasingly from a heart condition. He abandons his home, beloved dogs, and estranged son in pursuit of a black market heart transplant in Korea before traveling to Tahiti, where he spent time in his youth, in the hope of connecting with a son he has never met.

Cast

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Production

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The film is inspired by a brief essay of the same name by Jean-Luc Nancy.[2] Claire Denis also takes inspiration from Robert Louis Stevenson's writing and Paul Gauguin's South Seas paintings.[3] Footage from Paul Gégauff's film Le Reflux is used in the film.[4]

Release

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The film had its world premiere in the Competition section at the 61st Venice International Film Festival on 9 September 2004.[5][6] It was released in France on 4 May 2005.[7]

Reception

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On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 86% based on 29 reviews, and an average rating of 6.8/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "The impressionistic narrative may confound the viewer, but Denis crafts wonderfully poetic, dreamlike imagery."[8] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 85 out of 100, based on 13 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[9]

Amy Taubin of Film Comment commented that "Denis is one of cinema's greatest narrative poets, and The Intruder, the story of an adventurer, is her most adventurous cinematic poem."[10] Jay Weissberg of Variety wrote, "More opaque than her past works and unlikely to garner her new fans, Denis gives near equal weight to reality, dreams, nightmares and premonitions, resisting a traditional narrative in order to question the possibilities of escape within the modern world."[11]

Slant Magazine placed the film at number 77 on the "100 Best Films of the Aughts" list.[12]

References

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  1. ^ "The Intruder". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
  2. ^ Sweeney, R. Emmet (July 2005). "The Hither Side of Solutions: Bodies and Landscape in L'intrus". Senses of Cinema. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
  3. ^ Dooley, Kath (June 2012). "The Intruder". Senses of Cinema. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
  4. ^ Smith, Damon (April 2005). "L'Intrus: An Interview with Claire Denis". Senses of Cinema. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
  5. ^ "Venezia 61 - In Competition". Venice Biennale. Archived from the original on 11 October 2004. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
  6. ^ "Thursday, September 9, 2004". Venice Biennale. Archived from the original on 11 September 2004. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
  7. ^ "L'intrus". AlloCiné. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
  8. ^ "The Intruder (L'Intrus)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
  9. ^ "The Intruder". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
  10. ^ Taubin, Amy (May 2005). "Distributor Wanted: The Intruder". Film Comment. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
  11. ^ Weissberg, Jay (17 September 2004). "The Intruder". Variety. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
  12. ^ "The 100 Best Films of the Aughts". Slant Magazine. 7 February 2010. Retrieved 12 December 2022.

Further reading

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