Horsehead (France - 2014) is an intense horror film directed by Romain Basset, the director who co-wrote the screenplay with Karim Chériguène. It had its world premiere at Fantastic Fest, Étrange Festival and Sitges, Horsehead is a dreamlike film, rich in symbols and highly evocative images.
The cast boasts the presence of Catriona MacColl, known for acting in Lucio Fulci's films as well as in the more recent Chimères By Olivier Beguin. In Horsehead the British actress plays an unforgettable role that enhances and confirms her undoubted acting skills.
In the film, Catriona MacColl plays Catelyn, the mother of Jessica (Lilly-Fleur Pointeaux), a girl constantly tormented by recurring nightmares from an early age. The terrible dream experiences that destroy her enjoyment of sleep lead her to study psychophysiology to find the origin of her nightmares. The news of her grandmother's death causes Jessica to return to the family home where waiting for her is her mother with whom the girl has never had a good relationship. The young woman will stay in the room next door to the one where the old woman's wake is being held. At night the nightmares return to mortify her and, following a sudden fever that forces her to bed, the girl takes advantage of this situation to experiment with lucid dreaming in order to take control over her dream world.
In this film Romain Basset discusses the psychic phenomena related to sleep, analyzing related disorders, astral travel and also REM phase. Horsehead pulls the viewer into an exciting imaginary and surreal spectacle in which it is pleasant to sink in captivated by the intense images and music (edited by Benjamin Shielden) that is well in keeping with the subject matter.
Horsehead opens on blurred and distorted images accompanied by evocative notes. The viewer's gaze is lost among figures bathed in darkness muted by reddish-blue lights. Attention immediately shifts to a living painting, a tribute to The nightmare (1781), Johann Heinrich Füssli's famous painting of the dream dimension.
It is precisely the experience in the dream world that the director depicts in Horsehead and it is the aforementioned painting that is paid homage to here with spectacular visual power by introducing Jessica (Lilly-Fleur Pointeaux), the girl tormented by nightmares who, immortalized in a false awakening, experiences her own hypnagogic paralysis. Sunk on a bed and thus unable to move or speak, she is the victim of hypnagogic hallucinations represented by a horse's head that makes its way between red curtains in a purple setting. A strong color, red indicates danger in the dream. It in fact frames a powerful and devastating sequence about sleep paralysis experienced by the protagonist just as in Füssli's painting.
The color red is a constant in the film. Also particular is the use of red lights and walls (homage to Dario Argento's Suspiria), here perfect in giving an eerie aura to dreams and also to reality. In particular, the lights, used only on certain details of the shot, turn into a warning of danger that can be traced back to the meaning of the color red in dreams.
Jessica's return home brings the story back into reality although the protagonist is constantly searching for an explanation that will shed light on her nightmares. In her hands she clutches a text on lucid dreaming. The cover of the book depicts a horse, while between the pages appears The nightmare of Füssli, which has now become part of the protagonist's dark oppressive dreams.
Horsehead is meticulous in its details and is rooted in the dream by also providing so many symbols of it. One among them is precisely the horse, which here takes a central place in Jessica's dreams but as a negative, fearful element that drives her to search for the key to the truth. The icy, creepy white-headed horse figure with a human body and long, demonic nails is in fact the monster constantly present in Jessica's nightmares. In addition to the horse, endowed with blind eyes that do not allow a glimpse of the soul, the mother, death, and evil are also the main dream archetypes that are given great space. Not to be outdone is the wolf, another important symbol of Jessica's dreams and the only positive figure for the protagonist.
The intense experience of lucid dreaming that the girl decides to go through becomes the point of maximum artistic expression in the film. To induce this dream experience Jessica uses a real symbolic element (a photograph) and ethyl ether that will help her sink into a deep sleep. Accompanying her in her dream sphere is a delicate use of slow motion that gives the film an elegant and light dreamlike touch.
The girl's dreams oscillate between the sacred and the profane, between good and evil, for an intense journey into the nightmare from which this time she does not want to wake up. Instead, the lethargic state that physically debilitates her will help her painfully pursue her quest amid devastating and terrifying visions and hallucinations, in the film staged almost pictorially. The goal is to destroy evil from the subconscious, to scrutinize the symbols hidden in the nightmares for self-knowledge and to achieve harmony with oneself.
Meanwhile, the old woman's wake, which gives the film a macabre touch, continues.
In the dreamer's nightmares, the erotic component also finds its place, resulting in more unhealthy scenes. Horror manifests itself more often as we get closer to reality. There are several successful horror sequences, full of charm and above all splendid in originality.
Horsehead is a must-see French film. It is an immense hypnotic and surreal dream punctuated by all the elements that make up the oneiric sphere, here tackled with style and good knowledge of the subject. Good direction as well as script, music and acting evidence (very expressive Lilly-Fleur Pointeaux in the role of the desperate dreamer). In addition to the commendable staging, the powerful cinematography (by Vincent Vieillard-Baron) focused on alternating tones of blue and red is noteworthy.
In addition to Catriona MacColl and Lilly-Fleur Pointeaux, the rest of the cast of Horsehead consists of Murray Head, Gala Besson, Fu'ad Ait Aattou, Vernon Dobtcheff, Joe Sheridan, Emmanuel Bonami, and Philippe Nahon.
Jean-Michel Montanary and Arnaud Grunberg handled the production of the film.
Dear Lady of Sorrow,
I just read the article and feel compelled to compliment you, your review regarding the film is very accurate and objective. However, I have to ask you to clarify the dynamics of the film better. I finished watching it less than 10 minutes ago, and while thinking back and racking my brains, I just can't get clear on a few points, including: 1. If I am not mistaken, the dead fetus was named Lucy, and she was the one the mother wanted to keep, but later Rose is seen holding the fetus in the attic looking for a safe place to bury it, is that not so? Well, this girl is supposed to be Jessica's twin, and in fact the fetus that is seen wrapped in the sheets that appears in Jessica's dreams is her dead sister (although she later manages to "escape" from it at the end of the film), although the mother wanted Lucy and not Jessica, since the moment he sticks the needle into her abdomen he clearly tells her that he never wanted her. But I also noticed that the wound inflicted by Jessica (who later kills her?) is the same wound she inflicts on herself with the Cardinal's sharp key, which eventually turns out to be her.
I'm afraid I'm not really the person to view certain categories of films, since I apparently couldn't follow the thread of the film. I would like to ask you if you would be so kind as to be able to give me a clearer explanation, since the latter was really interesting to me due to the fact that it is not the usual splatter where monstrous figures appear in the foreground with chilling screams (although I admit they give me a certain adrenaline rush) but seems to have a deeper meaning.
I look forward to your response, Ingrid.