Wild Games

Charles Cuvelier is a bachelor in his fifties and a star in the world of commercials. He is used to getting his way and tolerates no opposition. One day he answers an apartement-ad. He goes to the house, steps into the elevator and gets stuck. No-one seems to hear his cry for help. A mysterious woman notices him. She begins to play a game with his involontary co-operation. He is dependent on her, but tries to find a way to take power over his seemingly invincible opponent.
''We are not animals, are we'' the woman says to Charles in the elevator. In the film there are many animals. The cat, that he tries to capture. The beetle, that he puts under the brandyglass. And, ofcourse, the lamb, the sacrificial lamb. We can see it beeing carried in the beginning of the film, and it reoccurs on a glass-painting. ''Open the bird cage'', Charles urges to the woman.
The cat has since time imemorial been a symbol for femininity and the witche's companion. Is it the woman he wants to grasp, brutally and aggressivly, when he forces the small animal into the elevator, to later - what?
The young sheep has always been a symbol for the clean and innocent that is butchered to be sacrifised. In our western culture the sacrifical lamb is also a symbol for the martyrdom.
Who is sacrifised in this game? Who is the martyr? What is the woman's purpose in this game?
We get to examine Charles, portraited by Richard Bohringer, when he is forced into a situation where the classical question eventually has to be asked: what is the most important thing in life?
Helena Hederberg

Premiärstatus
Nordisk premiär: Orig. titel
Combat de Fauves: Medverkande
Richard Bohringer, Ute Lemper: Producent
Jacqueline Pierreux: Manus
Gabrielle Borile, Benoit Lamy: Foto
Charlie van Damme: Musik
Bruno Coulais: Talat språk
french