The Intruder

MOVIE #1,222 •🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿• 11.03.23 𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙲𝙻𝙰𝙸𝚁𝙴 𝙳𝙴𝙽𝙸𝚂 (𝙵𝚛𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚑: [𝚍ə𝚗𝚒];) 𝙳𝙸𝚁𝙴𝙲𝚃𝙾𝚁 𝙵𝙾𝙲𝚄𝚂 I’ve made no bones about my struggle to connect with the work of Claire Denis, though I’ve often still been delighted and enlightened by what she puts on screen. Her movies are oblique, not so much cloaked in metaphor as they are drenched in a poetic sense of wandering, searching. They aren’t easy to write about, both out of a simple fear of seeming stupid and the plain fact that these non-traditional narratives are not ripe for stock criticism. The loglines and short descriptions either leave too much out or seem to solely exist as a sleight of hand.

With The Intruder, I felt like I was finally able to submit to her many whims and flights of fancy. Finally (it only took a baker’s dozen of features and shorts). At long last I stopped caring about “the plot,” and simply let myself live in the moment with each scene, because trying to examine the connective tissue between scenes feels almost like a game, and it's not really about being wrong or right, winning or losing. This film seems to be about cause and effect, and examining the thread of fates infected by misdeed. You have sex, you have a son. You live dangerously, you will need a new heart. Every frame bleeds into the next with little context, the movie equivalent of trying to make sense of a dream. “Your worst enemies are hiding… hiding inside… hiding in the shadows… Hiding in your heart,” says a young lady staring directly into the camera in a pre opening credits sequence, as if to warn the viewer that you don’t need to look far for the answers.

This is structurally dense but wonderfully paced and shot, easily Denis’s most cinematic work to date, crisscrossing between the French-Swiss border, Korea and ultimately Tahiti. While I think it’s wrong to look at this as a puzzle box picture, the pieces and story are there, almost as a grounding element. This is a gap Denis has finally closed off, working in the middle of her third decade.

Nénette et Boni is more emotional, Trouble Every Day is more visceral, and Friday Night is more immediate. But with The Intruder, she has found a bridge between all her best modes and adroit inclinations. The final product is truly a work of art.

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The Intruder (French: L'intrus) is a 2004 French drama film directed by Claire Denis. The film had its world premiere in the Competition section at the 61st Venice International Film Festival. It was released on September 4, 2004.