''Simon Killer'' is a 2012 film directed by
Antonio Campos with a screenplay by Campos from a story by Campos,
Brady Corbet
Brady James Monson Corbet (; born August 17, 1988) is an American actor and filmmaker. Corbet is known for playing Mason Freeland in the film ''Thirteen'', Brian Lackey in the film '' Mysterious Skin'', Alan Tracy in the 2004 film '' Thunderbird ...
and
Mati Diop
Mati Diop (born 22 June 1982) is a French-Senegalese filmmaker and actress who starred in the 2008 film '' 35 Shots of Rum''. She also directed the 2019 film ''Atlantics'', for which she became the first black female director to be in contention ...
. The film revolves around a young American man named Simon who is visiting Paris and his relationship with a Middle Eastern prostitute and a French woman he meets on the metro. It is a character study centering on Simon's sociopathic tendencies and their effects on the people that come into his life.
Plot
After his girlfriend of five years, Michelle, leaves him when he aggressively accuses her of cheating on him, college graduate Simon takes a trip to Paris. He writes multiple emails to her expressing his desire for communication, but he insults her privately as he writes. He also lies to her about having met someone. After unsuccessfully trying to meet a girl the night before, Simon visits a bar/brothel where he meets prostitute Victoria. After some brief introductions, he pays to have sex with her, but only has her strip naked and grinds against her leg until he orgasms. She offers Simon her number so they can meet again.
They meet later and have sex. He later receives an email back from Michelle, where she expresses care for him but also tells him he now frightens her. On the day when he is supposed to leave the apartment he is staying at, scours a nearby train station for a person or people to beat and rob him. When he finds a group of thugs to do that, he lets them attack him and uses these excuses to stay at Victoria's place. While in bed together, she tells him in English about her abusive ex-husband, then in French about how she miscarried and her husband raped her before taking her to the hospital. Simon, his French poor, misunderstands as "You have a son."
The next day, Simon theorizes that most of Victoria's clients must be married, and suggests blackmailing them for money. They begin a romantic relationship. After an unsuccessful attempt to blackmail a cop, they find success in René, a man who pays them in exchange for their silence. Victoria quits her job at the bar. Simon encounters Marianne, a girl he met at the beginning of his trip, and gets her number. The cop tracks Victoria down and viciously beats her.
Simon goes out with Marianne and eventually kisses her. He calls René, claiming to need more money. Simon and Marianne have sex, but he initially makes her uncomfortable. While eating breakfast with her, he gets a call from Victoria asking where he is, and a call from René's wife, who says he is missing. When he goes to tell a fed-up Victoria this, she angrily tells him she called René's wife. In a rage, Simon beats her and strangles her. He tries to stay with Marianne, but eventually turns to family friend Carlo. He tearfully calls his mother, but hangs up before he can say anything.
At the airport, Simon writes a final mental letter to Michelle, stating the only way for them to heal is to distance themselves for a while. He promises to see her soon.
Cast
*
Brady Corbet
Brady James Monson Corbet (; born August 17, 1988) is an American actor and filmmaker. Corbet is known for playing Mason Freeland in the film ''Thirteen'', Brian Lackey in the film '' Mysterious Skin'', Alan Tracy in the 2004 film '' Thunderbird ...
as Simon
*
Mati Diop
Mati Diop (born 22 June 1982) is a French-Senegalese filmmaker and actress who starred in the 2008 film '' 35 Shots of Rum''. She also directed the 2019 film ''Atlantics'', for which she became the first black female director to be in contention ...
as Victoria/Noura
*
Nicolas Ronchi as Carlo
*
Constance Rousseau as Marianne
*
Lila Salet Lila or LILA may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Lila'' (album), debut album by American country music singer Lila McCann
* ''Lila'' (movie), a 1968 sexploitation film
* The Meaning of Lila, a comic strip written by John Forgetta and L. A. ...
as Sophie
*
Michaël Abiteboul
Michaël Abiteboul is a French actor.
Filmography
Theatre
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abiteboul, Michael
French male film actors
Living people
21st-century French male actors
Year of birth missing (living peop ...
as Jean
*
Alexandra Neil
Alexandra Neil (born April 7, 1955) is an American stage, film and television actress
An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or i ...
as Simon's mom
Reception
On
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film holds an approval rating of 77% based on 60 reviews, with an
average rating
In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7 ...
of 6.82/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "Though its bleak themes may be off-putting for some, ''Simon Killer'' is an engrossing, effective character study of a brutal, enigmatic figure." On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, the film has a weighted average score of 63 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
''Simon Killer'' was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the
2012 Sundance Film Festival
The 2012 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 19 until January 29, 2012 in Park City, Utah.
64 short films were selected for the festival from 7,675 submissions, including 27 international shorts from 3,592 submissions.
Non-competition ...
.
References
External links
*
Interview with Antonio Campos
{{DEFAULTSORT:Simon Killer
2012 films
American thriller drama films
American independent films
Films directed by Antonio Campos
IFC Films films
2012 thriller drama films
2012 drama films
2010s American films