Charlotte Gainsbourg and Charlotte Rampling acting together in an arthouse horror is enough reason to watch Lemming, but Lemming is far more than its dazzling stars. It's almost shocking to witness Dominik Moll, the underrated horror mastermind, completely subverting an overdone genre, and creating a horror experience one simply shouldn't miss out on.Without spoiling any goodies, let's just say Lemming is a symbolic, suspenseful horror story about two women connected via a freak accident. Two Charlottes are definitely the standouts of the ensemble, but Moll's frequent collaborator Laurent Lucas, along with French veteran André Dussollier, were also quite unforgettable as the male presence in this largely female-oriented story.Truth be told Lemming definitely overstays its welcome a bit, considering its over 2-hour runtime and meandering nature in the middle. Also, the story can get confusing at times, making one wonder about the meanings behind all the messiness on display. It's only at the very end that the whole picture shows, and one has no choice but to marvel at Moll's masterful, revolutionary visions as a filmmaker. Highly recommended.
A young couple has the husband’s boss and his wife over for dinner—already a somewhat fraught experience—but before they can even get through the meal the boss’s wife (Charlotte Rampling) storms out in a rage over her husband’s infidelities. At this point I thought we were headed for a fairy standard, if intense, drama focused on the relationship between these two couples, but soon after this Rampling’s character dies and the movie gradually turns into a quasi-supernatural psychological thriller as the younger woman (another Charlotte, this time Gainsbourg) seems to become possessed by the spirit of the dead woman. The performances are all very good, especially from the two Charlottes, and the movie is perfectly watchable in a basic “I want to see what happens next“ way, but overall it left me feeling undernourished. The ending in particular didn’t have the impact I had been hoping for given the promise the story had. Throughout it feels like the movie is flirting with some dark, truly weird themes (the director is definitely a fan of David Lynch), but each time it pulls back into something more conventional as if afraid to commit.If you’re wondering about the odd title, or are simply a fan of rodent-related content, have no fear—an actual lemming makes an appearance, crawling into the couple’s pipes and clogging up their sink in an early scene. The lemming, which is referred to several times throughout the film, is clearly a metaphor for a sinister, foreign element creeping into this couple’s idyllic life (we’re reminded multiple times that lemmings are native to Scandinavia and aren’t usually found in France). In English, lemmings are often used as a symbol of mindless conformity, but apparently that’s not true in France—this couple has never even heard of the animal before they discover one in their home. The movie may hit differently for French speakers, for whom lemmings are unfamiliar creatures—I’ve simply heard the word too many times for it to register as weird, and this may have subtly detracted from the uncanny mood the film was trying to create.
Doesn’t sustain its grip for the entirety of the bloated runtime, but when it does, it’s an A-class psychological thriller. I love it when Rampling plays a sour witch, it’s so satisfying to watch.
