''On War'' (french: De la guerre) is a 2008 French

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

film directed by

Bertrand Bonello Bertrand Bonello (; born 11 September 1968) is a French film director, screenwriter, producer and composer. His background is in classical music, and he lives between Paris and Montreal. His work has also been associated with the New French Extre ...

and starring

Mathieu Amalric Mathieu Amalric (; born 25 October 1965) is a French actor and filmmaker. He is best known internationally for his roles in the James Bond film ''Quantum of Solace'', in which he played the lead villain, Steven Spielberg's ''Munich (2005 film), ...

Laurent Lucas Laurent Lucas (born 20 July 1965) is a French actor. Life and career A student of the Charles Dullin school, Lucas soon became one of the most admired young performers in the Strasbourg National Theatre. He first emerged on the scene with his r ...

Guillaume Depardieu Guillaume Jean Maxime Antoine Depardieu (7 April 1971 – 13 October 2008) was a French actor, winner of a César Award, and the oldest child of Gérard Depardieu. Early life Depardieu was the son of actor Gérard Depardieu and his first wife, a ...

Asia Argento Asia Argento (; born Aria Maria Vittoria Rossa Argento; 20 September 1975) is an Italian actress and filmmaker. The daughter of filmmaker Dario Argento, she has had roles in several of her father's features and achieved mainstream success with a ...

Michel Piccoli Jacques Daniel Michel Piccoli (27 December 1925 – 12 May 2020) was a French actor, producer and film director with a career spanning 70 years. He was lauded as one of the greatest French character actors of his generation who played a wide vari ...

and

Léa Seydoux Léa Hélène Seydoux-Fornier de Clausonne (; born 1 July 1985) is a French actor. Known for her roles in both French cinema and in Hollywood she's received various accolades including the Cannes Film Festival's Trophée Chopard in 2009 as well ...

. It follows a man in the middle of an existential crisis as he gets drawn into a strange pleasure-obsessed cult. The film's title loosely refers to the treatise ''

On War ''Vom Kriege'' () is a book on war and military strategy by Prussian general Carl von Clausewitz (1780–1831), written mostly after the Napoleonic wars, between 1816 and 1830, and published posthumously by his wife Marie von Brühl in 1832. I ...

'', by

Carl von Clausewitz Carl Philipp Gottfried (or Gottlieb) von Clausewitz (; 1 June 1780 – 16 November 1831) was a Prussian general and military theorist who stressed the "moral", in modern terms meaning psychological, and political aspects of waging war. His mos ...

Plot

Bertrand (Mathieu Amalric), a film director, is conducting research for his latest film, and asks a funeral director if he can stay back at his parlour after the close of business. Bertrand cannot resist getting into a coffin, and accidentally knocks the lid down, locking himself in. When he's released the following morning, it's clear he's been profoundly affected by the experience. That night, he considers hiring his regular prostitute, but cancels after a film on TV—David Cronenberg's ''eXistenZ'' – grabs his attention. The next day—still ignoring his girlfriend, Louise—Bertrand encounters a group of policeman on the street and is momentarily confused when he's unable to find a specific reason why they're there. In the evening, he returns to the funeral parlour, where a strange man, Charles (Guillaume Depardieu), breaks in with him. After asking Bertrand to describe his experience in the coffin, the man eventually takes him to a countryside mansion, the headquarters to a cult called The Kingdom. Book I – The Nature of War The cult's leader, Uma (Asia Argento), a young woman who tapes her breasts and wears conservative clothing, tells Bertrand that if he wants “pleasure”, he must join them in their “war”. Although initially uncomfortable about being denied access to a phone, and unsettled by the sexual advances of a younger member, Maria (Léa Seydoux), Bertrand soon befriends a fellow member called Rachel and finds himself taking part in activities designed to bring him closer to the “pure existence” experienced by people like the Native Americans (photos of whom line the walls of the mansion). These activities include: trust exercises; crawling up and down a sand patch on all fours; touching, and being touched by, a partner; wandering the woods in animal masks; simulated sex; receiving a form of communion from Uma; and listening to Uma read pornography. After the group spend a long evening dancing in the woods, Bertrand watches a woman in a Venetian mask strip naked and drift into the river. Unable to swim, he sits on the bank and watches. His two-week trial period with the cult complete, he returns to the city and attempts to explain what he's been through to his girlfriend, Louise, making mention of his transcendent moment with the woman in the river. Unable to re-adjust, however, (and visited by a violent dream in which a man has his eyes gouged out with scissors), he quickly decides to drop his film and return to the cult, now more committed to its cause than ever. Book IV – Commitment Things grow weirder as Uma introduces Bertrand to a room of sculptures resembling skinless bodies. Around this time, he also starts to move in and out of a dream-state, imagining that he's a soldier in a trench fighting against an unseen enemy. His "beautiful" performance in the trenches earns him Uma's praise. Louise visits the mansion but, unable to understand the cult, simply ends up wandering its grounds. Shortly after, a concerned friend of Bertrand's visits but is promptly expelled by him for suggesting that he leave the cult. Meanwhile, a young man, Pierre, who was being groomed by Charles to “carry the sword” as a lieutenant in the organisation, accidentally shoots himself in the head with a rifle. Uma, distraught, consults with an authoritative older man, Le Grand Hou, possibly a former leader of the group. After reminding her that she's a good "warrior", he enigmatically asks her if she'd ever hoped that the sky would rend before her eyes. Her answer is "Yes, often". Book VII – Attack In his dream-state, Bertrand is now a lieutenant and carries a sword. Hunting through the forest for animals (which we hear but don't see), he tells us in a voice-over that his task now is to kill Colonel Kurtz, which is the same task given to Martin Sheen's character in ''Apocalypse Now''. He drifts down the river (apparently able to swim in the dream-state) but stops when he comes across Pierre's wrapped-up body. The meaning behind the presence of Pierre's body in Bertrand's dream is ambiguous. Back in reality, Bertrand decides that it's time to say goodbye to Uma and leave the cult once more. She warns him one last time about the difficulties he will face on the outside. The film ends with Bertrand sat on a bench back in the city, smiling as he listens to Bob Dylan.

Cast

as Bertrand *

as Uma *

as Charles *

Clotilde Hesme Clotilde Hesme (born 30 July 1979) is a French actress best known for playing Lilie in Philippe Garrel's ''Regular Lovers'' and Alice in Christophe Honoré's ''Love Songs''. She is also known for the role of Adèle from the TV series '' Les Rev ...

as Louise * Laurent Delbecque as Pierre *

as Marie *

as Le grand Hou *

Aurore Clément Aurore Clément (born 12 October 1945) is a French actress who has appeared in French and English language movies and television productions. Early life She was born Marie-Thérèse Aurore Louise Clément in Soissons. Following the death of her ...

as La mère de Bertrand *

Elina Löwensohn Elina Löwensohn (born 11 July 1966) is a Romanian-American actress. She had roles in the films ''Simple Men'' (1992), ''Schindler's List'' (1993), ''Amateur'' (1994), '' Nadja'' (1994) and '' The Wisdom of Crocodiles'' (1998). Life and career L ...

as Rachel *

as Christophe * Marcelo Novais Teles as Frédéric *

Vincent Macaigne Vincent Macaigne (born 19 October 1978) is a French actor, theatre director and film director. He is also a screenwriter and playwright. Life and career Macaigne was raised in Paris, the son of a French businessman and an Iranian-born painter. H ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:On War 2008 films 2008 comedy-drama films French comedy-drama films Films directed by Bertrand Bonello Films with screenplays by Bertrand Bonello 2000s French-language films 2000s French films