The Captive = La Captive

Chantal Akerman, one of contemporary cinema’s singular filmmakers, is the director of “La Captive”, a minimalist masterpiece about the complexities and ‘politics’ of male-female relations. Inspired by Marcel Proust’s “The Prisoner” (the fifth volume of “Remembrance of Things Past”), “La Captive” centres on Simon (Stanislas Merhar), a handsome, wealthy, young man, who lives in an opulent multi-levelled apartment with his grandmother, a maid, and Ariane (Sylvie Testud), his girlfriend and willing ‘captive’. We first see Simon stalking Ariane as she runs an errand, it gradually becomes apparent that he is compelled to control her every movement, to the point where he forcibly removes her from social gatherings and orders her how to bathe and when to join him in bed. Inflaming Simon’s suspicion and anxiety is Ariane’s close connection to a circle of women friends, especially, the beautiful, Andree (Olivia Bonamy), with whom she spends a lot of time. Increasingly distressed, Simon decides to terminate their relationship and drives Ariane to a grand seaside hotel for a final, tragic night together. Exactly why Ariane submits to Simon’s control remains largely unexplained. True to Akerman’s abstract, minimalist style, such ‘story’ details or emotional content are kept at bay to enable a more philosophical exploration of ideas of obsession, male-female vs. female-female relations, and the relation between control and desire. Akerman expertly fine-tunes story tension via rhythm, shot composition and her signature austere, elegant style. With more then a hint of Hitchcock’s “Vertigo”, Bresson’s “Une Femme Douce”, and Antonioni’s “L’Avenntura”, “La Captive” is a seminal film that questions the very possibility of an open and humane relationship between a man and woman. Beautifully shot by Sabine Lancelin and impeccably scored. In French with English subtitles.