In the mind of a war vetaran

Disorder  by Alice Winocour     ★★

After returning from the war front in Afghanistan, the French Special Forces soldier Vincent (Matthias Schoenaerts) is discharged from the army because of his post-traumatic stress disorder. He takes a job as a security guard at the French villa of the wealthy Lebanese businessman Whalid (Percy Kemp). While Whalid seems embroiled in murky affairs and goes on a business trip, Vincent is tasked with the security of Whalids wife Jessie (Diane Kruger) and their young son. Soon, Vincent begins to suspect that they are in danger. But is the danger real or just a figment of his imagination...?

Damaged soul

Disorder (original title: Maryland) is an interesting French-Belgian psychological drama about the confused state of mind of a lonely, traumatised war veteran, who reminded me to a certain extent of Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver, Jacob in Jacob's Ladder and Chris Kyle in American Sniper. Vincent suffers from insomnia, hearing loss and hallucinations. Like Chris Kyle, Vincent struggles to come to terms with his war experiences. Like Travis, Vincent sees himself as the guardian angel of a damsel in distress. And like Jacob, Vincent is drawn into the psychological vortex of his own mind, blurring the line between illusion and reality.

Female Fantasy?

Matthias Schoenaerts as Vincent.

This is the second feature film of French director Alice Winocour (after Augustine in 2012). She wrapped her own screenplay of Disorder in a psychological thriller that focuses mainly on the perception and emotions of Vincent. Sometimes the electronic soundtrack of Mike Lévy, aka Gesaffelstein, is muffled, to illustrate Vincent's hearing loss and introverted, brooding nature. The camera stays close on lead actor Matthias Schoenaerts, contributing to a claustrophobic atmosphere. The sense of dread, however, remains subdued, which is one of the reasons why Disorder lacks real suspense.

Winocour's minimalist screenplay is based on an interesting premise and a revealing end, but offers little more in between than promises. After a slow build up, the viewer expects a climax, but is left with a rather poorly framed home invasion. Meanwhile, we had to make do with the mere possibility of romance between Vincent and Jessie. In that respect, the role of Vincent, which was written with Schoenaerts on Winocour's mind, feels a lot like a female fantasy: an evocative, upgraded art house version of Kevin Costner as the knight in shining armor who rushed to the aid of Whitney Houston in the clumsy but lucrative 1992 blockbuster The Bodyguard.

Diane Kruger as Jessie.

Silent strenght

Schoenaerts shouldn't blame himself for my lack of interest in Vincent. In Disorder he acts with the same silent strenght which has made this fine, good looking Belgian actor already a much sought-after European film star since his breakthrough performance in the succesful 2011 Flemisch crime thriller Bullhead (original title: Rundskop). His co-star Diane Kruger also delivers in Disorder. Neither of them, however, is able to fill in the gaps in the screenplay. In short: although literally and figuratively speaking a promising film, that places Winocour on the map as an interesting filmmaker with potential, Disorder isn't really what I hoped for and, all in all, somewhat disappointing.

JN.

Disorder - France/Belgium - 2015.

Cast: Matthias Schoenaerts and Diane Kruger.

Genre: psychological drama / thriller