Michel Tournier ‘s short story is the source of The Red Dwarf, a bizarre expressionistic serio comedy.
The film made a splash when world premiering at the 1998 Cannes Film Fest (in the Directors Fortnight section), before playing the international art film circuit.
The protagonist is Hich Lucien L’Hotte (Jean-Yves Thual), a dwarf who works for a law firm. One day he is befriended by circus trapeze artist Isis (Dyna Gauzy), who views him as her guardian angel.
We learn that Lucien has been penning letters to upset the marriages of others.
His company’s number one client, divorced vocalist Paola Bendoni (Anita Ekberg), vamps him at her villa, and their affair begins. But when she rejects him, he sneaks into her house, strangles her, and frames her husband (Arno Chevrier) for the crime.
Director Yvan Le Moine, who also wrote the script, is good at building tension and imbuing his strange and unsettling yarn with a sustained creepy mood.
Credits:
Running time:104 Minutes
Directed and written by Yvan Le Moine
Released on June 1, 1999.
DVD: April 18, 2000
