7 Days (2010)
| Film | |
|---|---|
| German title | 7 Days |
| Original title | Les 7 jours du talion |
| Country of production | Canada |
| Original language | French |
| Year of publication | 2010 |
| Length | 106[1]Minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 18 |
| Staff | |
| Director | Daniel Grou |
| Script | Patrick Senécal |
| Production | Nicole Robert |
| Music | Reinhold Heil, Johnny Klimek |
| Camera | Jeff Cronenweth |
| Edited by | Valérie Héroux |
| Cast | |
|
|
7 Days (original title: Les 7 jours du talion) is a 2010 Canadian horror thriller film directed by Daniel Grou and starring Claude Legault.[2] The screenplay was written by Patrick Senécal and is based on the novel Les sept jours du talion.[3]
Storyline
The daughter of doctor Bruno Hamel is found raped and murdered in a wooded area. Bruno then kidnaps the prime suspect Anthony Lemaire during a prisoner transport. Hamel informs the police by telephone that he will murder Lemaire in seven days, the seventh day also falling on the birthday of his murdered daughter. Only after Lemaire’s death will he turn himself in to the police.
Police Detective Mercure leads the investigation. Mercure experienced a similar fate when his wife was murdered during a store robbery.
During the seven days, Lemaire is brutally tortured by Hamel, who, among other things, smashes his knee, cuts out his intestines while he is fully conscious, beats him with iron chains and castrates him. Lemaire confesses to Hamel that he raped and murdered three other girls in addition to his daughter, Jasmine. Meanwhile, the police are still having trouble tracking down Hamel. Hamel kidnaps the mother of one of his victims, who disapproved of his actions on television, saying that his actions would do no one any good, and brings her to Lemaire.
It is not until the seventh day that the police succeed in locating Hamel. Hamel turns himself in and lets Lemaire live. While the police are taking him away, a reporter asks him if revenge is right. Hamel answers in the negative. The reporter now wants to know from Hamel if he regrets his revenge actions. Hamel also answers in the negative to the second question. The camera fades out.
Criticism
The Encyclopedia of International Film described the film as a “vigilante film full of sadistic cruelty, with sober images that look terror in the eye and focus on pain”.[1]
The film magazine Cinema described the production as “a family’s martyrdom, shot in long, haunting takes, that resonates for a long time.”[4]
Markus Müller in the film portal Moviemaze wrote: “When revenge thriller meets torture porn, the result is usually far from great cinematic art. Canadian director Daniel Grou proves that the whole thing can also be done with brains. His uncompromisingly depressing and relentlessly brutal vigilante flick proves to be a deftly explored character study that keeps the viewer engaged for a long time after the fact and can actually add something to the revenge thriller genre.”[5]
Web links
Individual references
- ↑ a b 7 Days. In: encyclopedia ofinternational film. Filmdienst, retrieved 20 September 2011. template:LdiF/maintenance/access.
- ↑ AFM ’09: Monster Revenge in ‘Seven Days
- ↑ 3 More Sundance Films Set for Immediate VOD Debut
- ↑ Cinema review
- ↑ Markus Müller, Moviemaze.de
- Film title 2010
- Canadian film
- Thriller
- Horror film
- Literary adaptation
- Rape-and-revenge film