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Wednesday, December 15, 2010

[4.00/10] Dans Ton Sommeil a.k.a. In Their Sleep (2010)



This "modern" French horror/thriller, titled "In Their Sleep", follows Sarah, whose life is in pieces, one year after her teenage son's death. Then late one night, her car accidentally hits Arthur, a young man the same age as her boy, who suddenly emerges out of the forest and onto the road. Wounded and frightened, he is running from a mysterious assailant, hunting him down after Arthur caught him red handed in the act of burglary. Sarah sympathizes with him, taking him in, only to be tracked down by the burglar whose murderous rage towards Arthur forces her to take action. Unbeknownst to Sarah though, things aren't quite the way they seem… "In Their Sleep" is Caroline du Potet's first feature film, co-directed with brother Eric, and it shows. The film is not just dull, lifeless and incompetently-directed, but it also completely lacks suspense and actual thrills. It desperately tries to give you this realistic feel, but it miserably fails, as "In Their Sleep" is so rushed and contrived, it never succeeds in delivering a believable and effective story, or compelling enough characters. Caroline and Eric du Potet use an intricate plot structure and tricky editing, in order to complicate purposely this otherwise muddled and inert thriller. Unfortunately, directors' attempt to compensate for the film's overly simplistic and unintriguing story, could be considered a failed effort, as "In Their Sleep"'s complex structure does nothing but confuse the audience. Both, Anne Parillaud and Arthur Dupont, do a fairly good job in portreying Sarah and Arthur, but the problem lies in the script, as neither their characters are not fully developed, nor their relationship feels even remotely credible. Although tentatively proclaimed as a horror movie, "In Their Sleep" has very little to offer in terms of thrills, scares and gore. Yes, there are some dead and cut-throat scenes, but those are very few and lacking in gore and gruesomeness. The conclusion is a bit unexpected, yet completely unsatisfying and rather stupid. With its weak script, uninspired plot and lack of credibility, "In Their Sleep" is yet another poor exercise in filmmaking.

10 comments:

Jaccstev said...

Never saw Anne Parillaud in a very long time. Last time I checked her was in "The Man in the Iron Mask" :)

George Beremov [Nebular] said...

Oh, "The Man in the Iron Mask" was just as bad as this one :) I don't even remember her in Iron Mask, if I have to be honest.

Jacss, you'd better skip this one.

Andrew said...

Darn, I was hoping this movie might turn out better....
It seems to have an interesting premise.

Unknown said...

Sounds like I will be skipping this one. Excellent review, though. I appreciate your candor and honesty.

George Beremov [Nebular] said...

Melissa, dear, you'd better skip it, cause otherwise you risk to easily get bored:) I love French horror movies, but this one just didn't click for me.

Thanks for the compliment :) I've always been candor and honest... even painfully honest at times, if you know what I mean :)

George Beremov [Nebular] said...

Andrew, buddy, I had high hopes as well, but it turned out pretty bad.

Jaccstev said...

Where are you buddy? I expect you to publish your achievement in Dempsey's movie blog awards as the Best Animation Blog.
But congratulation buddy! I'm really sorry you didn't get the Horror Best Blog since you definitely deserves it.

George Beremov [Nebular] said...

Hey, Jaccs! :) You know what, I decided not to post anything about my achievement in winning BEST ANIMATION award, as I'm quite disappointed that the blogs that deserved to win the most, didn't. I'm talking about you and J-son, of course. You-know-who has won 2 awards and he's "very surprised"? C'mon! Enough with this bullshits. I've put my award banner on my sidebar. :) You deserved to win best post and even best achievement, cause you're one of the best movie reviewers I know :) As for the HORROR award - well, I was completing with a bloody-disgusting writer, what did you expect? :)

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Dude! I feel like a jerk - I scanned through the Movie 411 awards yesterday and I missed that you won best annimation. I would've mentioned you in my post yesterday along with Dez, but I was looking at the bigger awards. (And was bummed you didn't win any of those.) I'm sorry. Such a schmuck...

George Beremov [Nebular] said...

It's ok, Alex, don't worry about it :) You've mentioned me so many times in your posts already, and I'm grateful for that :) The BEST ANIMATION wasn't up for voting, that's why this award remained a bit overlooked.