''Hors Satan'' (''Outside Satan'') is a 2011 French

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

written and directed by Bruno Dumont. It was filmed under the production title ''L'Empire'', which means "The Empire". It premiered in the

Un Certain Regard (, meaning 'a certain glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob. The section presents 20 films w ...

section at the

2011 Cannes Film Festival The 64th Cannes Film Festival was held from 11 to 22 May 2011. American actor Robert De Niro served as the president of the jury for the main competition and French filmmaker Michel Gondry headed the jury for the short film competition. South ...

Cast

* David Dewaele as le gars * Alexandre Lematre as la fille * Valerie Mestdagh as la mère * Sonia Barthelemy as la mère de la gamine * Juliette Bacquet as la gamine * Christophe Bon as le garde * Dominique Caffier as l'homme au chien * Aurore Broutin as la routarde

Reception

Rob Nelson of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' called ''Hors Satan'' "Another 'WTF?' film from Gallic writer-director Bruno Dumont", and went on: "Like Dumont's '' Twentynine Palms'' and '' Life of Jesus'' (give or take the Cannes Grand Prix-winning ''

L'Humanité ''L'Humanité'' (; ), is a French daily newspaper. It was previously an organ of the French Communist Party, and maintains links to the party. Its slogan is "In an ideal world, ''L'Humanité'' would not exist." History and profile Pre-World Wa ...

'', ''Outside Satan'' flirts with all-out absurdity, as if managing to keep it at bay will be the director's own miracle, highly subject to interpretation. Less debatable are the film's technical merits, with d.p. Yves Cape delivering naturalistic beauty on a wide canvas, and the on-location sound work capturing every minute nuance of bird-chirps, cock-crows, and blasts of both wind and, uh, shotgun." British film critic

Peter Bradshaw Peter Bradshaw (born 19 June 1962) is a British writer and film critic. He has been chief film critic at ''The Guardian'' since 1999, and is a contributing editor at ''Esquire''. Early life and education Bradshaw was educated at Haberdasher ...

of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' gave the film 4 out of 5 stars, saying that "Bruno Dumont's film-making is just so fluent, unnerving, gripping; he is entirely unique".

Lisa Schwarzbaum Lisa Schwarzbaum (born July 5, 1952) is an American film critic. She joined ''Entertainment Weekly'' as a film critic in the 1990s and remained there until February 2013. Career She has been featured on CNN, co-hosted '' Siskel & Ebert at the Mov ...

of ''Entertainment Weekly'' granted the film a B+ and called it an "austerely wild, religiously amoral drama... set in untamed northern coastal France," adding, "Dumont's rigorous, serious attention to the mysteries of good, evil, and faith rewards those willing to be confounded."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hors Satan 2011 drama films 2011 films Films directed by Bruno Dumont French drama films 2010s French-language films 2010s French films