A man lies dead, a young woman walks the streets at night, dazed and naked. The opening scene of Claire Denis' new film 'Bastards' shows fragments of something terrible thats taken place, but we don't know what. The young womans name is Justine (Lola Créton),her mother Sandra (Julie Bataille) learns of her tragedy and the dead man who is her husband and Justine's father.

Sandra seems to have given up hope, or simply doesn't care. Its not until Sandra's brother Marco (Vincent Lindon) is called to return from his job as a captain of a ship, that things start to unravel. Marco seems to be the only one compelled to find out what happened to Justine and her father, who was Marco's best friend. Sandra is of little help, Marco doesn't quite trust her, and maybe never had. She tells him who she thinks is responsible, Marco drops everything to piece back together a disturbing picture of family life.

'Bastards' is a moody, slow-burning noir with a surprising series of events that will leave a mark on you. Marco's affair with Raphaelle (Chiara Mastroianni) provides the film with its emotional heart. But everyone is numb and lonely, seemingly unable to express themselves, or simply afraid to. 'Bastards' uses a strange emotional state, darkness pervades in everyone who are all closely shot but you still can't get close to them. Somethings holding them all back, and the protagonists of the crimes do not need to lift a finger.

'Bastards' isn't a bleak film, there's still enough tenderness and thoughtfulness in the characters to imbue the film with a humane presence. It still keeps you at a distance, the ending is a shocking conclusion to a fine film, perfectly pivoted by a wonderful song from the Tindersticks. You may not like the ending, but i think this was the point from Denis, in what is her finest film yet.

On the whole Claire Dennis doesn't do accessible, it's far too plebeian and might actually entertain the masses rather than stimulate the academic-pseud axis. So it's a tad ironic that her new release features Vincent Lindon, one of the finest French actors of his generation who is incapable of turning in a bad performance even in a crock of merde like this; the irony is that Lindon also starred in the virtual two-hander Vendredi soir, with Valerie Lemercier, which remains arguably Dennis' most accessible film to date and for all I know she hired Lindon again with the idea of coming full circle. The plot, such as it is, is a succession of improbabilities the first of which took place off screen when Lindon signed over his share of the family shoe manufacturing business to his sister and brother-in-law who promptly ran it into the ground. Having established himself as a master mariner he walks away from THAT career equally impulsively in order to support his sister in the wake of her recent widowhood and a wild child daughter. With no visible means of support he moves into a luxury apartment building where Chiara Mastroianni enjoys a large apartment paid for by her older, sadistic, controlling, millionaire lover who is also - by sheer coincidence you understand - involved in the degradation of Lindon's niece. Naturally she is having sex with Lindon within hours of his moving in. Both Lindon and Mastroianni give excellent performances albeit as meaningless as beautiful fauna flourishing around a cesspool.

'BASTARDS': Three Stars (Out of Five)

Disturbing and confusing French crime drama film from director Claire Denis. It stars Vincent Lindon, Chiara Mastroianni, Julie Bataille, Lola Créton and Michel Subor. It was written by Denis and Jean-Pol Fargeau and tells the tale of a sea captain who goes AWOL to investigate his brother-in-law's suicide and protect his sister and niece from an evil businessman. I found the modern day film noir look and style of the movie to be interesting but didn't care at all for it's disjointed storytelling. I had no idea what was going on most of the time and still don't understand much of the film.

Lindon stars as Marco, a sea captain who goes AWOL and returns home to Paris when he learns his brother-in-law committed suicide. His sister Sandra (Bataille) believes a wealthy businessman, named Edouard Laporte (Subor),was responsible for her husband's death. Marco moves into the building of Laporte's mistress, Raphaëlle (Chiara Mastroianni),in order to investigate Laporte and becomes involved with Raphaëlle, who wants to protect her son (from Laporte) at any cost. Marco desperately wants to protect his sister and her teenaged daughter, Justine (Créton),as well.

The film was inspired by current sex ring scandals involving rich men and has received lots of rave reviews for it's director and criticism of capitalism. I like it's commentary on society but it's a tad too dark and disturbing for me to enjoy much. I can still respect movies like this but the way the story is told all out of order is far too confusing for the average viewer (and me). I don't think making your film impossible to follow is a good way to make movies but I did like the look and style of the film and think the director and actors show a lot of talent in it.

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