Since the release of Chocolat, her elegant and poetic take on colonialism in Cameroon, released in 1988, French director Claire Denis has quietly and consistently made some of the most memorable films found in modern cinema. She has created an array of masterworks, some more widely recognised than others, including her aforementioned feature debut, Beau Travail, Vendredi Soir and 35 Shots of Rum.
But Trouble Every Day, Denis' 2001 horror film starring the controversial Vincent Gallo alongside Tricia Vessey, Beatrice Dalle and Alex Descas, proved quite the shocking departure from her previous work, which had tended to be small scale dramas. Trouble Every Day skewed more towards the New French Extremity trend of bleak, violent cinema.
The film follows the American Dr. Shane Brown (Gallo) and his wife June (Vessey), in Paris for their honeymoon. At least, that is one motivation for this trip – Shane secretly intends to meet with a doctor, determined to (seemingly) gather information from him. Meanwhile, Core (Dalle) is a woman who wanders through quiet rural spaces in France finding men at night. She is repeatedly found in the mornings that follow by Leo (Descas, also in Denis' 35 Shots of Rum) covered in blood, and he takes her home in an effort to lock her away from society (until her next escape).
However, to focus on the plot of Trouble Every Day is to misunderstand its intentions. Denis' film is much more interested in themes revolving around the human body, particularly sex and relationships, and in creating a dour, oppressive atmosphere for the viewer. These characters, while well realised, are mostly means to thematic ends as suggested by the film's minimal dialogue and forceful emphasis on the troubling yet arrestingly beautiful imagery of cinematographer Agnès Godard (another Denis regular).
Denis' film is primarily fixated on the ideas of loneliness within relationships and the closeness, both in emotional intensity and physical movements, between sex and violence. And Trouble Every Day follows these ideas by adopting various perspectives, shifting between its main characters and reflecting each of their individual experiences with their sexuality and their relationships. Denis casts a wide net over her core thematic focuses by doing this, especially with the contrast between Shane's mostly scientific and almost detached, passionless views of sex and the body when compared with Core's frightening, primal and almost monstrous want for both sex and striking violence. Avoiding major spoilers, Core's view of the line between lust and murder is extremely thin.
What is most impressive about Trouble Every Day is its brazenness. Its slow pacing and lack of dialogue is already bold, but its prolonged eerie tone and almost clinical, detached visuals are close to outright off-putting in some ways. Many will find themselves frustrated by Denis' efforts to intentionally push the audience away and to challenge them, but those willing to stick with the film will see a stunning, truly unique exploration of sexuality – one that is rarely erotic and tends to instead focus on detachment, loneliness and dissatisfaction, and one that reduces its characters to animalistic beings who can move through life towards what they want only to be sharply disrupted by rushes of lust and desire.
Turning the promise of erotic thrills into an outright depressing expression of unfulfilling relationships and the sheer ugliness of sexual desire is a brilliant move on Denis' part, and it cements Trouble Every Day as a tough but deeply moving film. As abrasive and off-putting as it is tender and melancholic, Denis' film is a mournful gothic interpretation of relationships. It's a film that can be excruciating, but its revelations are crushing and the poise of the form is quietly stunning.
Limited Edition 4K UDH & Blu-ray Special Features
- Limited edition hardbound slipcase featuring new art by Ash Weaver-Williams and 60-page collector's book, with facsimile lobby cards
- Original French soundtrack presented in DTS-HD MA 5.1 and LPCM 2.0
- Optional English subtitles, newly revised for this release
- New audio commentary with horror scholar Lindsay Hallam
- Audio commentary by director Claire Denis and director of photography Agnès Godard
- Pleasures of the Flesh – new interview with New French Extremity expert Alice Haylett Bryan
- Trouble Every Day: Material Vampires and The Defeat of Science – new video essay by film scholar Virginie Sélavy
- Trailer
Trouble Every Day will be released on 4K-UHD and Blu-ray via Eureka on 18 August.
