The Captive (2000)

THE CAPTIVE  (2000)  ¢ ¢
    D: Chantal Akerman
    Sylvie Testud, Stanislas Merher, Olivia Bonamy,
    Aurore Clément, Anna Mouglalis, Berenice Bejo
This film starts out with what looks like a home movie of some young women goofing around at the beach. The women are all beautiful in the way that French women in French movies generally are, and as the camera pans over their faces, one in particular stands out, not because she's cuter than the rest, but because there's something about her that's, somehow, striking. You want to see more of her, and the camera does, too. The woman is Sylvie Testud, and the character she's playing is called Ariane, and the next time you see Ariane, she's being followed around the city, sometimes in a car and sometimes on foot. She's being stalked. The stalker is an impeccably tailored and well-groomed young man, and what you learn soon enough is that he and the woman are in a relationship, and stalking is one of the ritual games they play. You start out wondering what's going on between them and how it all fits together. He's rich. She has a room in his apartment. He controls her, up to a point, but wants to own her completely. She does what she's told, up to a point, but with an air of bored indifference. He wants her soul. She won't give it up. It's driving him crazy. Who's the captive here? Which is interesting, up to a point, as long as they're not spending all their time brooding and analyzing and talking about it. The more they talk, the less you really care. They're beautiful people, though, that's for sure, and one of them's Sylvie Testud. You could do worse than spend a couple of hours watching her.