L'Invention du Troisième Peuple: The utopian vision of Philippe Grandrieux's dystopias

Abstract

In Philippe Grandrieux's 1999 film, Sombre, a Punch and Judy show puppeteer, Jean (Marc Barbe), turns out to have much in common with the Big Bad Wolf whose costume he dons in the climax of his puppet show, for he is a figure of primordial and archetypal terror, a vicious serial killer who preys on women and who seems to show no emotion whatsoever in the face of the fear and suffering of his victims. Jean, like the Big Bad Wolf, displays neither regret, sadness nor pleasure at the kill-it is just what he does. A character with no apparent redeeming features whatsoever, it thus comes as somewhat of a surprise when Claire (Elina Lowensohn), who we suspect will become his next victim, appears to fall in love with Jean, or, at least, to be irresistibly drawn to him even as she recognises the danger that he embodies. More surprising still, perhaps, for contemporary audiences accustomed to neat resolutions, is that it is resolutely not the case in Sombre that this scenario is established in order for Jean finally to achieve redemption, to leave behind his murderous ways and start a new life with Claire. On the contrary, just as the very possibility of this relationship resists comprehension, which is to say integration into a predetermined system, so the relationship itself is destined not to last and itself to fall prey to the incommensurability upon which it is premised, Jean finally abandoning Claire and returning to the primeval space of the forest. [Chapter extract