“Fiercely intelligent. Cinematically sophisticated… the most disturbing film of the decade.”
-Amy Taubin, THE VILLAGE VOICE
“Stunning… A rigorous cinematic intelligence at work… harrowing, sensational.”
-Gavin Smith, FILM COMMENT
“Phenomenal! The confidence and gleeful skill of Gaspar Noe are the undeniable hallmarks of a major filmmaker in the making.”
-Andrew Johnson, TIMEOUT NY
I STAND ALONE (1998), Gaspar Noe’s first feature film, follows an embittered nameless butcher who is alone in the world. Unable to find love or a job, the butcher is willing to place blame on everyone but himself. Filled with hate, this racist, misogynist unemployed ex-con rages against the world with a short temper and death wish. Rather than shy away from this abominable character, Noe unflinchingly enters the mind of this troubled being. A sequel to CARNE (1992), Noe’s earlier short, I STAND ALONE is a cornerstone of the New Extreme in both content and form. Its characters and form of cinema can only be described as cruel.
For more information on Noe.
Either I am one messed up kid or Funny games has completely desensitized me from the shock of extreme violence. Yes, I Stand Alone was a very tiring film with a few shocking moments, but to be honest I didn't really find it to be all that bad in terms of brutality. The only scene were I found myself leaning back in my chair in shock while covering my mouth occurred when the unnamed Butcher character decided to go raging bull on his pregnant lover. What really stood out in the film were the striking visuals. The extensive wide and close up shots were done beautifully as well as the lighting. I love how the value of the shots contrasted heavily with the bleak, crumbling streets of Paris as well as how the lighting gave it a rich, almost yellow texture. I was actually compelled by the story, which shouldn't make sense since it is very slow moving and only explores the characters day to day struggles. I love how Noe used constant muffled low booming sounds to make the audience feel like we are in the Butchers head as he expresses his nihilistic views of the world. There were definitely allusions to the film Taxi Driver, essentially the plot almost felt the same. A jobless man, tormented by the scum of the Earth becomes increasingly violent in his thoughts as he walks the slums of his city. It was as though we were looking at an older Travis Bickle and finding out what happened to him after the events of the film. My utmost favorite part of the film is the final scene in which the Butcher decides not to kill his mentally disturbed daughter and instead embraces her, rejecting his lonely life and allowing himself to regain his humanity. While this occur, Pacabel's Canon begins to play, creating a heart warming scene. I instantly became attached to that character and almost felt I needed to applaud him. Then the shit hit the fan and Noe completely flipped the audience on his ass by making the Butcher and incestuous sick bastard. It's almost like Noe is mocking the audience, letting us have that one sweet moment and then reminding us that this movie is no Air Bud.
ReplyDeleteIn I Stand Alone, Gaspar Noe, puts us in the mind of a person who is broke and on the verge of homelessness. As one can suspect this is not a happy man meaning that everything we see through this character will be depressing. This holds up to be true, especially because throughout the film we are accompanied by the butcher's interior monologue. This movie was one of the most depressing lenses that I have ever viewed life through. I believe this to be an achievement within itself for Gaspar Noe. He was able to produce a story, environment, and camera technique that simulated rock bottom for someone not familiar with it. When I finished this film I felt as if it was a happy ending not for any of the characters, but for the audience watching this film. At the end I was able to see hope in someone who nothing and was then able to return to my own life which is far better than the butchers. The next day none of my problems seemed to be that important or that big of a challenge to overcome. Gaspar Noe is truly a man with great talent that I look forward to seeing his progression between movies as a filmmaker. I may not always agree with some of his choices, but he is a modern day person trying to bring something new to this medium.
ReplyDeleteThis movie made me want to throw up.
ReplyDeleteI had a very mixed reaction to I stand-alone. While I think the movie was very well crafted, for the most part I just had this visceral disgust for what transpired (which I’m sure what Gasper Noe was going for). I wanted to sympathize with the jobless butcher, but it was really hard to do this after watching him abort his own child by pounding on his wife and then having sex with his daughter. I liked when we found out that him killing his daughter and then shooting himself wasn’t realy but in his head. I was extremely happy when I thought he was just going to hug his daughter and realize his love for his daughter. Once things started to get sexual, I kind of wished he really did just kill her and himself. All of the commentary on France and America was interesting (especially after having learned Noe was born in Argentina). Another part that really bothered me was when the butcher was talking about the “typical” relationships with parents and how it really is a fake relationship where the child will put the parent in a nursing home as soon as possible. There were also some points during this movie that I actually did want to see the butcher kill: when he goes back to a former meat supplier and asks for a job and the guy kind of just turns him down and also when the bartender and his son pick on him in the bar. Overall, I would probably not want to voluntarily watch this movie again.
ReplyDeleteThe substance of "I Stand Alone" is dark--so exceedingly so, in fact, that many choose to walk away before it reaches its conclusion. The butcher's facile nihilism projects itself through a loud-speaker; that is, his voice narrates the journey with such venom and aggression as to overwhelm your sensibilities, and engulf you--trap you--in the twisted vortex of his mind.
ReplyDeleteExpressions of art always exaggerate emotions. Problems arise when art magnifies oppressive emotions; it's common (and understandable) for some people to turn away and repel such negative assaults on their equilibrium. Illumination of less-traveled portions of the mind, after all, are consistently disconcerting.
I do not regret watching this film. Though I do not wish to view it again, it was ultimately a worthwhile experience. "I Stand Alone" ventured into the seething desperation of a horribly troubled man, and though heightened and exaggerated, I would be surprised if anyone's thoughts, at some point in their life, had not been clouded by nihilism, and could thus, if merely by the faintest degree, empathize with The Butcher.
When we were told that I Stand Alone was going to be one of the hardest films to watch this semester, I prepared myself for the worst. A story about a vengeful butcher? I was expecting at least one person to be hacked to death by a butcher’s knife and fed to someone else. A title card warning audience members to leave the theater? I waited for blood orgies and killing sprees. Maybe I built things up in my head, or maybe I have become desensitized to film violence (which I highly doubt due to my aversion of all Eli Roth films), but I didn’t come out of the film feeling traumatized at all.
ReplyDeleteSome of the events were shocking to say the least. I’ll admit that I winced when the Butcher aborted his child with his fists. But, when push came to shove, it seemed that the ideas in the film were much more damaging than the actual visuals. The themes of racism and incest we littered all over the film, from the very beginning with the slide show to the end with this blossoming incestuous relationship.
I am not saying that the film is in any way, shape, or form “normal.” Quite the contrary, not many people would willingly want to be in the Butcher’s head for two hours. I can easily understand why some people would leave the theater during the countdown, but my own curiosity to see how the film would play out kept me in my seat. As a matter of fact when the countdown began, I wanted it to end because all it did was take me out of the film during its most climactic moment. Which might be why I wasn’t emotionally invested during the murder/suicide fantasy.
That being said, unlike Haneke, I do believe that Noe hates his audience. The entire film I waited for the retaliation. When would the butcher get what he deserves for beating up his pregnant girlfriend, aborting his child, being openly racist, cheating his landlord, molesting his mentally challenged daughter, and being an all around douchbag? Never! Not only is he never punished; he is rewarded with this renewed hope at the end of the film. But, just as this was a sequel to Carne, maybe Noe is has a sequel in the works.
I think "psychologically disturbing" would be the best way to describe I Stand Alone. To make a movie that only deals with visual gore doesn't take much. This film certainly didn't have as much violence as I had expected (in fact the "-- seconds to leave" message led to semi-disappointment).
ReplyDeleteInstead, I found that the film created a lasting impression whose reach extended past the movie-viewing time. To enter the psyche of a man like the butcher is to be drowned in a world of self-defeatism, gloom, despair, and hatred toward the world at large--a world which, after it is left, can leave one in low spirits at the least.
It is chilling to imagine that there are people like the butcher in the world who place blame on the world for their unfulfilled lives and who view everyone and everything in the world with such hatred.
I Stand Alone is very similar to Taxi Driver in that they're both a depressed, 1st person exploration of a lower class city leading up to a violent, climatic conclusion. However, neither ending was satisfying to me. I Stand Alone, the Butcher goes through his depressed life angry, poor, and hopeful for a change yet searching for scapegoat to seek revenge on. He blames immigrants, he blames the facade of friendship, north vs. South paris. He goes around anxious to shoot someone, he gets a gun and the sudden zooms with gunshot sound effects reinforces this train of thought. But who does he kill? In the end, no one. Instead of the man who won't hire him, he goes after his daughter and "butchers" her execution before his own suicide. HOwever, even this dark ending was in his head and Gaspar Noe rewinds almost like Funny games, and trades with us that murder for incest. What a tease. THe ending that could have salvaged this frustrated rant and make the intimately dark feel of the movie appropriate and genius, is voided with this ending. He made a violent yet naive, almost honest mistake which began his path and his daughters but does not conclude it in any way so that this film could be a commentary on violence or the state of Paris and nationalism or even life and love. It just sets you up to be depressed and follows through with an ending that doesn't satisfy even in a jaded, and cruel mentality looking for that bloody, gruseome release. In this sense, similar to funny Games it plays with the notion of storyline and climax but because the endindg, although finally as gory as his narrations wanted to be, it was misaimed and made the depressed hour and half before a waste. I did like the countdown though, that was a funny experimentation with film.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this film regardless of whether Noe wanted me to or not. I relished the dark humor, mostly because I was prepared for gore and brutal murder (I mean, come on, a vengeful butcher? All I can picture is Sweeney Todd...) and not for such intellectual humor. We get to witness a complete deterioration of man as speaks less and less with the outside world, preferring to confront the voices that live inside his head. He certainly has vengeful thoughts but none of these things are carried out. Even in the brilliant "plotting" sequence when he's talking about all these people he's going to kill with two bullets; we don't even see his imaginings of their death. Instead we see close ups of his haggard face juxtaposed against the talking mouths of those he feels oppressed by. My most violent act he ever truly commits is making the sound of the gun shot with his mouth, a sound that is unclear whether he is making it in his head along with his "talking" or if he is actually still capable of producing sound.
ReplyDeleteIn a way, he morphs into his daughter; mute, lonely, desperate for any kind of human connection. While I don't condone incest, I can understand why he has such a profound connection to her that goes deeper than father/daughter. He was abandoned by his parents, he abandoned his daughter. Both seldom speak to the outside world and yet they are clearly comfortable in the silence with one another and reach out to the other person: SHE APPROACHES HIM AT THE WINDOW. While she might not be "all there," it is still interesting that she initiates the contact that we assume to be the beginning of their having sex.
I was strangely moved by I STAND ALONE, largely because I was able to find some sense of humanity in the Butcher. While the film makes no effort in down-playing the character's pessimistic, bleak, excruciatingly oppressive outlook on his universe and life, I wouldn't agree with the argument that the film shares the character's point of view. While the piece does accept, rather embraces actually, a melancholic interpretation of life, I think Gaspar Noe's lens views the Butcher in a light that is sympathetic, if removed. While he roams those deserted streets, or considers the murders he desires to commit, or expresses his numbness towards mankind and womankind via internal monologues, Noe's camera seems to observe him for a distance, letting his thoughts and sometimes disgusting behavior overtake and infiltrate the narrative and fluidity of the piece, but also acknowledging that the Butcher is sad creature, worthy more of pity than contempt. Some of his acts truly are deplorable - the abortion sequence is unbearably violent, cruel, malicious, and selfish, and was the only real moment in which I cringed with a bitter taste - but behind those actions Noe seems to be exploring something more complex and something not-easily taken apart. The Butcher is a man drowning, but the film seems to argue, to great length, that this drowning is largely self-imposed agony; the Butcher's stubbornness in holding on to the ugliness of the world around him and his utter refusal to see it through different spectrums. It is almost as if he clings on to these notions of hatred and brutality in order to avoid feeling anything else about the world around him, afraid that it really is as doomful and apathetic as he envisions it, and that any hopes for something less-decedent is false and worthless. Perhaps this is the reason why I found the last scenes of the film - the hotel scenes with the dream sequence and then the reality sequence - especially profound rather than disturbing. When he caresses his mute daughter - in an overtly sexual way - it is the physical representation of man literally holding on to the only thing he has left. His desire for his daughter, incest-driven as it is, is really a desire to become one with his only connection to the outer world; an effort to consummate the dead (himself) with the living (his daughter). It is particularly interesting that Noe makes several film choices in these last moments that indicate a certain amount of concern towards his main character - perhaps the most notable being the symphonic music that accompanies his revelation and somewhat-epiphany as he embraces his daughter, and the shifting movement the camera makes just before the Butcher has, presumably, intercourse with his own daughter. Given the fact that the camera has thus far been fiercely brave in watching the Butcher commit all his downfalls and sins, in choosing to move away from him this final time the filmmaker is allowing, or privileging, the Butcher his lustful craving by merely recognizing the act and then turning a blind-eye. In a strange way, the film offers him that last gift, before he returns to his descent. And even in the last seconds of the piece, the Butcher's thoughts begin meandering in a pool of melancholy, indicating that this final intimate moment is already on its way out, vanishing.
ReplyDelete“I Stand Alone”
ReplyDeleteHonestly I really did not like this movie. I was confused by it the entire time, and therefore I could not really get into it or relate to it in any real way. The part where the camera whips into a close up and they add that sound made me even more confused, because I felt like that meant it was an important part of the scene, but I did not feel as though it was. There were a couple of individual scenes I did like for example the one we watched in class at the butcher shop, but as a whole the film really did not speak to me like the other films we have been watching especially “Funny Games”. The reason that I liked the butcher shop scene was because I was able to relate to it. When I was younger I got a job at PacSun, and it was my first job other then working at my dad’s office and my boss was close to my age and I thought he was going to be this chill surfer guy, but no he wanted me to smile for four hours while I edged and folded clothes. It sucked meat is not happy and clothes are not either. Also I really enjoyed the way the film used different transitions like the cutting of the sausage to learn that basically his wife is cutting off his penis, and when the mother in law and the wife are sitting at the table with him just cutting up meat it showed so many falic symbols in that scene you really could feel the suffocation that was going through his mind.
The other thing that I did not understand was the incest aspect of the film. I could not tell if it was that he wanted to do it, or that he actually did it because it went back and forth through the reality. I think I am having a difficult time understanding most of these French films, because I do not speak a word of French and therefore if I miss one title I miss an entire line that could have been important to the film, and also if I am sitting there just reading the whole time I am unable to see the acting and the character development that is crucial in every film. I feel as though I am unable to connect with these characters as I am with English language films or even Spanish language films, because I am completely preoccupied with the reading that I am oblivious to the other aspects of the film like I said character development, acting, and even shot composition I sometimes miss. I am worried that the other films will be the same, because the only film I have been able to connect with so far in “Funny Games” and I watched the English version, so hopefully I will be able to grasp the art of subtitle reading by the end of the course so I can start getting more into these characters and plots.
I Stand Alone
ReplyDeleteI thought the violent zooms, accompanied by the startling noises, was really interesting. Most of the film takes
place in the butcher's head, and reading his voiceover title cards grew very tiresome by the end. I would compare the film to a Tarantino film, especially the violence, and foul language. It also had no score, which I think is a really interesting effect, that adds to the voiceovers.
The incest scenes were sort of confusing, but I did realize that he only imagined having sex with his daughter, then killing her, and then killed himself. But he did end up fondling his daughter which made things unclear. I really liked the opening, how it summed up his entire life using only still photo's and voiceover. The scene where he punches his mistress in the stomach, killing her baby, was a lot to take, and was extremely shocking. I don't think that there is anything wrong with showing such violence, and Noe clearly wanted to push the envelope with what you can show in this film.
I'm not sure whether Noe wants us to feel bad for the butcher, but he makes it impossible for the audience to care about him. He ultimately decides to stay alive, and continue his wicked deeds. The butcher resolves to kill himself without much thought at all, which really lets you see how on the edge he really is. He also believes that murdering several relatively random people will solve his problems.
I enjoyed the film, even though it did make you really uncomfortable.
I stand alone, I really hate. The lead character made me really despise him however he did have some funny things to say about other people which made it a little more entertaining. The one thing I did like was the intensity of the scene towards the end where the audience was inside the head of the butcher and he was thinking of possible scenario's to kill his daughter and himself. When he decided to stay alive and have an incestuous relationship with his daughter that made me sick and I would have liked the ending better if he has just killed his daughter and himself. The part where he was punching his pregnant wife was awful and made me cringe a bit.
ReplyDeleteI liked the cinematography and direction but overall disliked the film and probably wouldn't watch it again.
As these screenings continue, I find myself feeling guiltier, awkward even, by confessing that I actually really like these films. While watching Noe’s “I Stand Alone” I found myself completely involved with the story. And I am so glad to see that one of our suggested screenings is Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver” – a film that I immediately associated with Noe’s. (Although, as a side note, I’m not sure that The Butcher is quite as heroized as the iconic Travis Bickle.) Noe’s use of negative space and long shots and, perhaps most importantly, sound create an oppressive environment that, I believe, is meant to mirror The Butcher’s own psychological state. I definitely found a political undertone to the film – as the film so somberly depicts the “bowels of France.” The most hardening part to watch in my opinion was the “forced abortion” of the child – it was just such a brutal, animalistic scene. Lastly, I really want to express how affected I was by the film’s opening – a series of photographic images often depicting these wide shots of mostly empty space. The excruciatingly long “prologue” was tedious but raising some tough questions about what actually constitutes cinema – about half-way through the images, I found myself lost in laughter and not completely understanding why. Was I finding this completely ridiculous? Genius? Perhaps, I felt it was a comment on audience expectation. Regardless, I feel that this opening really presented the dominance Noe would exert as the film progressed (the climax perhaps being the “Warning” title card).
ReplyDeleteAn interesting notion popped into my head as I finished the screening. Does it ever seem like these films are perhaps using these individuals – Anne and George and The Butcher – as objects rather than subjects? Is the director exploiting these individuals? Do these directors humanize their characters and to what extent is the movie driven by the character rather than by the directors’ own desires for where he wants the story to go? Just a few things I feel I should keep in mind as we continue our screenings.
I don’t think I stand alone in saying that I was deeply disturbed throughout the entire film. Not only do we witness such violent acts as the butcher aborting his own child with his fist, but the visuals are accompanied by a voice that justifies the actions. While it was intriguing and very humbling to view events from the butcher’s perspective, the statement on life that I was left with was just unsatisfying. A title card in the middle of the film reads, “Living is a selfish act. Surviving is a genetic law.” The butcher always seems to fend for himself and step on everyone who threatens his “survival” in the urban jungle. He expresses his frustration with the superficiality of relationships—like a child leaving a parent in a home to die once they cannot benefit from them anymore—yet he perpetuates the cold demeanor toward the people in his own life. The dismal ending seems to be the only way to end the film. We were given glimpses of the worst-case scenario (the butcher killing his daughter) and of the best (a loving father-daughter relationship), but in the end, the drive to fulfill one’s own needs will triumph—after all, it is a genetic law.
ReplyDelete"I Stand Alone" was deeply disturbing for me at only two points. The first instance took me completely by surprise. Man comes home. Man's wife nags him. Man and wife fight about money. MAN BEATS THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS OUT OF PREGNANT WIFE?!?! Hits her IN THE STOMACH repeatedly?! Then shows NO REMORSE?! Wow. I think I actually gasped. I can count the number of times I've let out a gasp while watching a movie on one hand: 1) Dog Day Afternoon when John Cazale gets shot, 2) Chinatown when Faye Dunaway gets shot (or rather, when the horn blares), 3) The Usual Suspects when Kevin Spacey stops limping, 4) And I Stand Alone...when a PREGNANT WOMAN got the snot beaten out of her, and the husband felt--wait for it-- RELIEF! I felt a physical discomfort in my stomach as it churned, but I couldn't pull my eyes away from the screen. For some inexplicable reason I had to watch every minute of it.
ReplyDeleteThe second point disturbed me in a way that's more difficult to explain. In the bar scene when The Butcher is going through his monolougue about life and how no one truly loves anyone else I felt deeply unsettled. He went on and on about no one loved their parents, children, or spouses. It disturbed me because of how dead on Noe got it. Don't get me wrong, I don't actually think The Butcher's sentiments were correct, but his description, his critique of how life FEELS resonated with me.
What I loved: The WARNING with the 30 second countdown to leave the theatre was genius. I couldn't help but look around the room at that point. Who was going to be cowardly enough to leave?
What I couldn't stand: Sleeping with your daughter? I understand you're broke and times are hard, but come on! Ruin your own life, but don't drag anyone else down with you.
Despite everything in this post I loved the movie. The internal monolougue helped me engage with and understand The Butcher, and his world in a completely deeper way than I feel like I would have otherwise. Great film.