Jeanne, a wife and mother of two, realises that small changes are taking place in the arrangement of her family home, as well as in her physical appearance. Jeanne is certain that her changes of perception are as a result of something profound, not stress or fatigue as everyone else seems to believe. Upon visiting her mother, she comes upon a photograph that pushes her to travel to Italy in order to track her down. In Italy, Jeanne will solve the mystery behind her changes after having undergone a full transformation.
This was my latest foreign film after "Let the Right One Ïn." Partially in spanish and Italian, Don't Look Back is a pyscho-thriller about a woman's tale as she finds her surrounding, her family and including herself slowly changing and transforming into another person and into her life. The change, unlike werewolves, are slow, subtle but still noticeable as the lead transforms from Sophie to Monica Belluci. One has to follow the plot tightly to fully understand what's going on and the changes taking place. Not a brainless piece, one has to ponder a bit before figuring out (or least think you've figured out) the mystery of the transformation. Nonetheless it was intriguing to follow and trace back the past events and finding her roots/family as the plot reveals itself. Sophie and Monica were clearly skilled actors as they play their roles with much conviction showing emotion, doubt, confusion and finally realisation. Not sure if the movie would have pulled through if it was done by any less reknown actresses.
If you've ever seen Marina de Van as an actress in ghastly, morbid and outlandish movies such as "Sitcom" (1998) and "See The Sea" (1997), you'd agree with this writer that hers is a special brand of cinema that requires a bit of stretching in many senses of the word. Even when she's writing musicals ("8 Femmes", 2002) it won't be your run-of-the-mill, chirpy mainstream affair. There are always overtones of psychotic insecurity, compressed into a movie experience that never fails to disturb or at least, unsettle. In her latest directorial effort "Don't Look Back" (French: "Ne Te Retourne Pas"), de Van pushes those insecurities to the forefront once more in a mind-boggling psychodrama that immediately commands more commercial attention than her previous frightful female mutilation movie ("In My Skin", 2002) could ever get.
Perverting instead of exploiting the star sex appeal of her lead actresses Sophie Marceau and Monica Bellucci, there is something genuinely seeking and worryingly troubling about "Don't Look Back". Movies discussing 'self' and 'other' don't come any more pressing than this, although perhaps they could be more polished. Here we find a woman (Marceau) slowly morphing into another completely different person (Bellucci), as she finds her surroundings, her origins and even her face grow increasingly unrecognisable. Terrifying the thinking man is the modus operandi and Monica de Van lets it rip, keeping you in suspenseful mystery. What would you do if you discover that you're supposed to be somebody else?
It's a sort of paranoia projection executed via clever Hitchcockian and Polanskian sequences, complimented by some bizarre 'freakshow' CGI work that underlines the desperate fear of losing identity and assuming another's. The academic aspect of this content that elevates it from incoherent psychobabble is the equality between the two characters in stature and class - it's not about turning uglier or poorer but simply the horror of having to be somebody else. Therein lies an appreciation that escapes many critics who may have less patience with mazy plots that frequently drifts between art and dementia.
The intensity and corresponding allure to "Don't Look Back" is more Lynch and Cronenberg than M. Night Shymalan. It may annoy a great portion of the audience but that won't be the same people who remember that Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie movie "Don't Look Now" (1973) or those who loved Patrick Bateman in "American Psycho" (2000). Marina de Van's next project will still win attention and this movie will earn its rightful place in cult DVD catalogues.
