Stars: Olivia Bonamy, Francoise Bertin, Stanislas Merhar, Sylvie Testud, Aurore Clement, Liliane Rovere

Director: Chantal Akerman

Summary: Simon is obsessed with his lover Ariane, he needs to know exactly where she is and what she is doing, but is she leading a double life away from his prying eyes?... French dialogue with subtitles.

The fifth volume of Marcel Proust's legendary novel REMEMBRANCE OF THINGS PAST is the source for veteran French feminist filmmaker Chantal Akerman's remarkable film THE CAPTIVE. Following a theme common in her past films--the impossibility of true knowledge of the other, Akerman crafts a severe and stilted chamber drama out of Proust's evocative and poetic text. Simon (Stansilas Merhar) is a wealthy and sensitive French man living in a posh, if cloistered, life in Paris. Ariane (Sylvie Testud) is Simon's lover and constant companion, as well as the subject of his irritated obsessions. Not satisfied with merely loving Ariane, Simon aches to have absolute knowledge of her-- her past, her present, her thoughts, and her deeds. When having her accompanied at every moment does not satisfy him, Simon begins to follow her everywhere she goes, questioning acquaintances, and constructing elaborate fictions around her every action. Suspecting her of a secret life filled with love for other women and a true happiness to which he is not privileged, Simon attempts to penetrate Ariane's aloof and opaque facade, only to bring their impossible love to a breaking point. Akerman's tight and constrained style, assisted by stylized acting, creates a complex and compelling portrait of the tragedy inherent in love.

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Chantal Akerman's La Captiveis a deceptively simple story following the fascination of a wealthy young man for his apparently innocent and lovely girlfriend. Only loosely drawn from Proust's La Prisonniere, the Proustian elements are often largely submerged. Yet as a study in obsession it is balanced somewhere between Death in Veniceand Vertigo. A chase through the streets of--an apparently timeless but actually contemporary--Paris, this is a picture of inexplicable obsession, moved along by fragments of whispered dialogue and a glimpse of bizarre daily ritual. With much of the story framed within the odd anti-hero Simon's grandiose apartment (which he appropriately shares with an ailing, rarely glimpsed grandmother), the film cleverly avoids suffocating its viewers by giving odd gasps of breath from the cheeky, light encounters between his girlfriend Ariane and the beautiful Andree--friends, or possibly sometime lovers. As a portrait of a relationship, La Captivewill keep its viewers absorbed with its elegant tone and its intriguing and inexplicable story; but it might just as easily frustrate with its unresolved twists and turns.--Tricia Tuttle

Aspect Ratio:	1.85 Wide Screen, 16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen
Main Language:	French
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Theatrical Trailer, Production Notes, Filmographies
Subtitles:	English
Year:	2000
Release Date:	October 29, 2001
Runtime:	118 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	A R T 203 D V D
Keywords:	General, Captive, Wide, Screen, French, Drama
Genre:	Drama