Left Bank

Belgian cinema has never been considered a key player in the horror genre, but director Pieter Van Hees’ slow-burning, yet wholly terrifying contribution should be enough to draw considerable attention. Left Bank is an atmospheric psychological horror, in the vein of Roman Polanski, in the way it captures the natural sinisterness of contemporary urban living and its ancient and diabolical connections with the past.

The film, Linkeroever in its Belgium title, revolves around Marie, an introverted athlete consumed with qualifying for an upcoming championship. Struck down with a mysterious illness that forces her to abandon her dream, Marie meets a handsome archer Bobby and it is not long before the two have embarked on a passionate love affair and Marie has moved into his sinister apartment complex , on the hidden left bank of the river. It soon becomes worryingly apparent that all is not as it seems in left bank, as Marie’s condition begins to worsen and she stumbles upon some worrying information regarding an ancient tradition that is definitely not as innocent as it sounds. As her relationship with Bobby takes a turn for the worse, the sense of unease that permeates the apartment gradually becomes stronger and Marie is left to consider the possibility that the past is not as dead as she or the audience would like to believe. 

 Stunningly shot and compelling even in its quieter moments, the film is devoid of typical horror clichés and an overuse of violence and gore that has recently become tiresome in the genre. Instead Pieter Van Hees offers us a film that is intriguing, subtlety terrifying and one which is always steeped in a surreal atmosphere of doom and hidden danger.

It could be suggested that the director sacrifices typical horror scares in the beginning for close and steady character development, but it is this development that keeps the audience with Marie at all times, and allows her to be such a familiar and identifiable character. It is this identification that makes her eventual fate all the more visceral and troubling as we share in her frustration, confusion and finally her terror in the films final moments. In the same way Left Bank succeeds in being so unsettling because it is very much grounded in reality despite its supernatural undertones. It plays upon the reality of our bodies failing us, of our lives spiralling out of our control and the slow realisation that the presence of those around us is becoming a force of evil rather than support.

Despite being extremely slow paced at times, the films final ten minutes are some of the most intense and utterly terrifying that I have ever seen and result in an unnerving pay off that justifies any original scares that the film lacks in the beginning. Left bank is also one of the only horror films to truly unsettle me and one which led me to have a succession of troubling dreams after watching it. The mood and overwhelming sense of unease is so distinctive and so strange, that it is hard to forget about once the film is over and you are again safe in reality. It is this quality that makes Left Bank far superior to many of its contemporaries, that seem to deal so heavily in meaningless scares, and makes it a horror film that deserves to be seen.