Shocktober 2024: Clash (Raphaël Delpard, 1984)

Martine, a gangster’s moll, agrees to take a bag of cash from a recent heist, skip town, and hang out in an abandoned warehouse until things calm down for the gangster and his associates. Two-three days, tops!

The warehouse is in a much worse condition than Martine had expected, and it not only creeps her out — in her distressed mental state the dilapidated building triggers a variety of traumatic memories from her childhood. She enters a kind of nightmare, where the line between dream and reality is constantly shifting. She tries to leave, but suddenly doors don’t open, windows are unbreakable. The warehouse tranforms from a sanctuary to a prison. Meanwhile, both the police and rivals of Martine’s criminal boyfriend are on her tail.

This slightly surreal psycho-horror-drama written and directed by Raphaël Delpard is for long stretches an acting showcase for Catherine Alric in the lead. She’s compelling as the tortured Martine, but is given too little to do; her monologues work well but she needed someone to talk with (and no, the mute hitman who turns up and lipsyncs opera doesn’t count). Just like a real dream, the movie is often frustrating, boring, and repetitive — but also fascinating. Extremely Freudian too, no surprises there.

Visually what we get is a very MTV style of surrealism — lots of fog, dismembered mannequins on fire, dialogue scenes with people positioned as if they’re shooting a music video, that sort of thing. Great outfits, of course. It reminded me of Alain Robbe-Grillet’s La belle captive (1983), another contemporary French film taking a stab at surrealism, even if its influences are more old-school. Dr. Runtime approved (98 mins).