An European film staring Sophie Marceau and Monica Bullucci? No way I am going to miss it. At the opening of the movie, TK and Cynthia simultaneously from my right and left asked if “Don’t Look Back” is a horror show. Uh-oh. One tiny detail I have not researched, prior to the booking of the tickets. As the film got weirder and weirder, I really thought I have picked a horror show acutely aware of every small movements of the two next to me. As though I was prepared for them to suddenly scream or jump out of their seats. And then ban me [again] for making decision on which film to watch.
Fortunately, “Don’t Look Back” is not a horror movie, though I could imagine that it could be quite a horrible experience for someone like the main character to have misplaced memories, knowing faces but not recognizing them. Sophie Marceau and Monica Bullucci both played the same character Jeanne. At some point, I thought I was watching Niki Sanders from the television series Heroes. Or watching a ghost movie. I wouldn’t go too much into the story here. It is one woman’s psychological suffering and it is one woman’s desire to discover the 8 years of missing childhood memory. It is an art house type of movie. And the pace can be slow. Because the surrounding environments and the faces of the same character change all the time, it could be rather strange and confusing to watch. Characters at times switch from adult to child form and vice versa, rooms get distorted and elongated to signify the change in perspective from the eyes of an adult to a child, scenes have subtle meanings that perhaps make sense to some towards the end. I think there are quite a few ways to interpret this movie, at least amongst the three of us. It is a movie that certainly has re-watch value.
I thought both Sophie Marceau and Monica Bullucci have acted well in “Dont’ Look Back”. Sophie’s psychological suffering and Monica’s invulnerability. Pairing them up in the same movie is a nice treat for especially fans of both European actresses.