The Ordeal

A film by Fabrice Du Welz, 2004
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Genre: Thriller

Languages: French

Subtiles: Dutch

Format: 16/9 – 2.35

Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1

Running time: 88 min

Countries: Belgium, France, Luxembourg

Year: 2004

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SYNOPSIS

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A few days before Christmas, the traveling entertainer Marc Stevens is stuck at nightfall in a remote wood. An odd chap who’s looking for a lost dog leads Marc to a shuttered inn; the owner gives Marc a room for the night. Next day, the innkeeper, Mr. Bartel, promises to fix the van and warns Marc not to get too close to the nearby village. At dinner that night, Bartel laments his wife who has left him, and by next day, Marc is in a nightmare that may not end.

CREDITS

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Director: Fabrice du Welz
Script: Fabrice du Welz et Romain Protat
Image: Benoît Debie
Sound: Marc Engels
Editing: Sabine Hubeaux
Music: Vincent Cahay

 

Cast:

 

Laurent Lucas, Jackie Berroyer, Brigitte Lahaie, Philippe Nahon, Jean-Luc Couchard

 

Produced by Michaël Gentile (The Film – FR), 
Vincent Tavier & Philippe Kaufmann (La Parti – BE), Eddy Géradon-Luyckx & Donato Rotunno (Tarantula – LU)

 

Internationales sales : FUNNY BALLONS

GALLERY

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FESTIVALS

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Festival international du Film de Cannes, Semaine de la Critique (France, 2004)

Festival International du Film de Toronto (Canada, 2004)

Festival du Film Fantastique de Gérardmer (France, 2005)
Prix du Jury (ex-aequo)
Prix de la Critique Internationale
Prix « Première »

Festival International du Film de Era New Horizons (Pologne, 2005)

Festival du Film Fantastique d’Amsterdam (Pays-Bas, 2005)
Meliès d’argent

Festival International du Film d’Espoo (Finlande, 2005)

Film Club d'horreur de Lisbonne (Portugal, 2005)

Cinefrancia – Saragossa (Espagne, 2005)

Black Nights Film Festival (Estonie, 2005)

Natfilm Festival, Copenhague (Danemark, 2005)

Festival du Film d’Horreur d’Haapsalu (Estonie, 2005)

Festival International du Film Contemporain, Mexico city (Mexique, 2005)

VIDEO

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PRESS REVIEWS

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« Much of ‘The Ordeal’s’ freshness comes from seeing old-school horror schtick distorted through a distinctively offbeat Euro lens. (…) Script by du Welz and Romain Protat tips its hat affectionately to schlockmeisters, but resists the temptation to spell out motivations too badly in the way a U.S.-made movie might.»

Leslie Felperin / Variety (mai 2004)

 

“By the time it reaches its final act, the film rivals its American counterparts in intensity if not quite in explicit violence.”

Frank Scheck / Hollywood Reporter

 

“What sells this movie is the realistic attention to detail and the bravura direction of Fabrice Du Welz, who draws a gut-wrenching performance from Lucas.”

G. Allen Johnson / San Francisco Chronicle