We join the story in the middle of a car crash - two cars colliding in bad weather - in which Sarah, who is pregnant, is barely alive, while her husband has died instantly. She is told that there were no other survivors from the incident. We then leap four months into the future and join Sarah at her hospital bedside as she is just about to be discharged. She is heavily pregnant by now, with the medics wanting her to return in the morning if labour has not started naturally.
Sarah is a photojournalist and spends her time taking photos of everything she possibly can - it looks like Canon sponsored this film! She rejects the help of friends and prefers to spend tonight, which happens to be Christmas Eve, alone in her home, mentally preparing for the trauma of the birth the next day.
There is a knock on the door and the doorbell rings. An unidentified woman (La Femme) is outside asking to be let in to use the phone as her car has broken down. Sarah is sceptical and refuses time and again. She tells the woman to go away and be quiet as her husband is sleeping. The eerie moments begin when the woman tells Sarah that she knows that is not true because her husband is dead! Sarah calls the police, who arrive, inspect the perimeter, and promise to return periodically throughout the night.
Sarah falls asleep and has weird dreams about childbirth. We are shown abstract moving images now and again of the child inside her, swimming around. The woman comes to the window, cracks it with her fist, and marks the beginning of the rest of the bloodbath - body horror, siege, survival, blood, guts and gore. Nothing is left to the imagination as both women get creative about what they can use as weapons!
Various people enter the house over the course of the night to check on her and try to help - returning police officers and a member of her family - but I will leave you to discover what happens with them, by them or to them, in equal measure! We do get an explanation as to why all this is happening at the end, which I must say I guessed early on, but that is not really the point. The film is about much more than a by-the-numbers mystery!
Alysson Paradis, who played Sarah, endured weeks of physically demanding filming on cramped, blood-drenched sets, delivering a completely convincing performance. Béatrice Dalle played La Femme, the intruder, with a scary chill - spooky and unsettling throughout. The few others in the cast did their duties admirably as well as their characters joined the chaos in the house, by which time everyone, including the viewer, has completely forgotten that it is Christmas Eve!
In terms of the gore, as I said at the outset, realistic physical effects were employed. They apparently used gallons and gallons of fake blood, with the directors opting for physical prosthetics and mechanical puppets over CGI to create the gruesome landscape. It is brilliantly shot, putting the viewer right in the middle of the action - and in some cases... Inside! The musical score was really interesting as it hauntingly dwelt on solo piano and cello. It was composed by François-Eudes Chanfrault, who used a deliberate, classical, laid-back approach to create a stark contrast against the extreme physical violence and gore. Hang about for the credits, during which the music will haunt again.
Great film. I really enjoyed it. Not for the squeamish, though, or anyone who has just had a large lunch! It comes and goes on UK streaming services as you would imagine, nearly 20 years on. Track it down, I say - do not spoil it with dubbed versions, go for the original French with subtitles (though I am sure you could probably skip reading them and not miss a beat)!
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