Haute Tension – A Tortured Love Affair
Review of the 2003 French Horror Film Directed by Alexandre Aja
Opening shots of Haute Tension are splintered and spliced together images of Cécile de France as Marie, whose chiseled and muscular body is ravaged with stab wounds, cuts, abrasions, and stitches.
After the David Fincher-like title credits end, Haute Tension begins, with Marie desperately crashing her bloodied and battered body against the car window of an unsuspecting traveler.
Alexandre Aja's Flesh and Blood Murders
These opening images of Marie, clearly post-trauma, dramatically contrast with the scenes that follow; of Marie, clean and undamaged, riding shotgun with her traveling companion, Alex (Maïwenn Le Besco), smiling and laughing, in a bright golden hue.
As the two friends ride through the sun-drenched French countryside, happily joking and jabbing at one another, it doesn't take long to figure out, that between her longing stares and not-so-subtle digs at her boyfriends, Marie is smitten with her exotically beautiful traveling companion.
And if one jumps ahead in the film, to the blood and carnage that extracts Alex's mother, father, and young brother from their family home (and the living world), it is Marie's passion for her friend that will compel her to go to extremes in her desire to save Alex from the menacing monster.
The flesh and blood murders are excellently choreographed and photographed by the young director Alexandre Aja; and while these are the scenes that raise the ire of the squeamish, and entertain the morbid masses; it is Aja's sneaky editing and pacing that is most impressive.
After Alex is abducted by the sweat-drenched and bloated psycho killer in coveralls, Marie skillfully maneuvers herself out of the killer's path, freeing her to plan and execute the rescue of her damsel in distress.
Any and all praise for director Aja is earned in the sequence of scenes set at a gas station, in between the ultra-violent opening and the ultra-violent ending; the tension and suspense is at its highest and most exquisite peak when Marie and the killer play a creepy game of cat-and-mouse in the bowels of the gas station, while Alex lay helplessly bound in the killer's truck.
Alexandre Aja Deconstructs The Monster
It is at about this point in Haute Tension, when more scholarly horror film aficionados will question the director's choice to show Marie in the opening scenes, as a safe and slightly unsound survivor.
But, if the filmmakers have done their jobs successfully, the viewer will conclude that this choice is a thoughtful and original one; by showing the victim as a survivor (and thereby the hero), the monster's death becomes the anticipated climax.
This is in stark contrast to the Michael Myers-Freddy Krueger-Jason Voorhees model, where the psycho killer is essentially an action hero, a sort of sexless James Bond; and the climax always comes down to the last victim killed.
Alexandre Aja's Anti-Climax
Sadly, after building all this tension, in anticipation of a rousing finale, and setting up what would appear to be a ground-breaking horror film, the filmmakers chicken-out, or at least drop the ball; by resorting to a silly and contrived plot twist.
It is tempting to scare people away from Haute Tension; but, for the casual horror film fan, the talented director Alexandre Aja provides more than enough to entertain; not to mention Cécile de France's powerhouse performance.
But, for the seasoned horror fan, the disappointment at such a missed opportunity, may leave them feeling drained and lifeless.
Haute Tension (High Tension)
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