Bastards: unnecessarily disturbing

The great French actor Vincent Lindon (Mademoiselle Chambon, Augustine) leads a fine cast in the dark and unnecessarily disturbing Bastards (Les Salauds).  Bastards is getting attention primarily because of its renowned director Claire Denis.  I am generally NOT a fan of Denis (although I liked her 2008 film 35 Shots of Rum).  There’s really nothing wrong with Bastards – it’s well-crafted and well-acted – except the story.

The tale is about Lindon’s character seeking to take revenge for a family tragedy on the rich bad guy who is responsible.  Because this is a very dark movie, it doesn’t end well.  Now I like dark movies and I would have been OK with the despairing ending, but Bastards needlessly exploits a human trafficking plot thread to make the bad guy worse than he needs to be.  Then the final ten minutes is entirely gratuitous.  I’ve seen over 15,000 movies, and I would put Bastards among the five or so most disturbing.

(The 40-year-old actress Chiara Mastroianni is pretty damn appealing as the target of Lindon’s lust; as the daughter of Marcello Mastroianni and Catherine Deneuve, she benefits from good genes.)

I saw Bastards at the San Francisco Film Society’s French Cinema Now series.  It is available streaming on Amazon, Google Play and XBOX Live.

Leave a Comment