Dans Ton Sommeil (In Their Sleep)
DIRECTED AND WRITEN BY: Caroline du Potet, Eric du Potet, STARRING: Anne Parillaud, Arthur Dupont, Thierry Fremont, RUN TIME: 84 minutes, RELEASE: 2010, LANGUAGE: French
Sarah (Anne Parillaud) is broken woman, mourning the brutally tragic death of her 18-year-old son a year previously. One day, distracted and depressed, she is sent home early from her job at a hospital. Later that night, on her long journey home, her car accidentally hits Arthur (Arthur Dupont) - a young man about the same age as her son - who suddenly appears out of the surrounding woods and onto the road; claiming to be running from a burglar whose face he has seen. She sympathizes with him and decides to take him back to her home to get him some help. However, the assailant that was chasing Arthur is hell-bent on hunting him down and Sarah must do everything she can to protect him.
I have read a couple of reviews on In Their Sleep since watching it and some of them say that this film is all over the place and complicated to follow because of the flashback scenes. I have to be honest, I have absolutely no idea what film they must have been watching. The flashbacks basically revolve around a single story and it is a necessary one in conjunction with the rest of the film that works perfectly alongside the unfolding plot. Both present and past are played out in a simple-to-follow linear fashion that blend together well. It really is simple to follow, in my opinion. I just don't understand the confusion (it's not like its Oculus, after all). However, that's for you to decide for yourselves but, I'm fairly sure you won't see a complicated problem with it either. So that's that addressed and out of the way.
Now, once again this film just goes to prove that French filmmakers really are among the very best horror/thriller writers around. They are just brilliantly edgy, dark and gritty and In Their Sleep certainly isn't any different in that regard. The location and set is fairly typical of its genre for the most part - the large house situated among a great wooded area is pretty standard for this style of film and is a tried and tested technique that seems to work pretty well on the whole. That being said, location alone doesn't make a good film unless it is utilized well in the films writing. At first, I was slightly concerned that In Their Sleep was going to veer down the path of other horror/thrillers, in the sense that it was just going to be another film about a woman being terrorized in her own home. Thankfully, the flashback scenes provided nice breaking segments that prevented this film from being a single location piece, the likes of which I have seen so many times already, and turned it into something that felt new and refreshing. A pleasant and welcome surprise.
There is a great air of suspense throughout this film that is complimented by a well composed musical score that shifts to accentuate the tone of any given scene, never overly bursting into great dramatic clashes for the sake of bracketing the tension of a scene with insulting results or for the sake of achieving a cheap scare (not that this is a film that requires any scares). The cleverness of this film is in the simplicity of it's writing and its easy-to-follow execution. There are some great moments of tension throughout and some brutal, emotional and powerful scenes. One in particular that will probably stay with me for some time to come yet.
If I'm honest, I really didn't think much of Parillaud in the role of Sarah. Don't get me wrong she was fine but, fine is about the best that she got. Sometimes I felt that she was a bit wooden in her acting and didn't really stretch too far in her abilities. When she did try, It just came across as over-theatrical and forced. Not a great choice for the lead female role. Fortunately however, at the opposite end of the acting spectrum In Their Sleep is blessed with great performances from Dupont as Arthur and Thierry Fremont as the man hunting Arthur. I really don't want to go into their character's in any way so as not to spoil anything but, I will say that there are some great displays of devastation and emotion from one in particular.
Overall, this is yet another wonderful French film filled with suspense, drama, terror and so much more. I genuinely didn't know what the outcome of the film was going to be as it twisted and turned, and threw me in all sorts of directions, casting an overall web of deceit. It is sometimes brutal and highly effective to that end, and as I said before, certain scenes have the potential to hit your psyche pretty hard. Another great film that I thoroughly enjoyed.
Take a look at the trailer below.