While this isn't the first foreign film that I've watched, it's certainly the first one that I've done a review for. Admittedly, what got me interested in checking this film out was Olga Kurylenko. I'd first seen her in the James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace - which wasn't exactly a great movie, but I thought she did really good in it. Therefore, I held out hope that L'annulaire (or 'The Ring Finger', as it's called here in Australia) would prove to better utilize this talented actress. Thankfully, it *does*.
The opening scene is of a young girl talking to a man in a white coat (Marc Barbé), asking if she can get a "specimen" of the fungi she's brought to him. We then get quite a beautiful piece of music (with a twinge of eeriness to it) playing over the interestingly-filmed opening credits, featuring the fungi.
Olga Kurylenko plays a young woman named Iris. When Iris is first introduced, she's working at a bottling plant (until she has an accident, involving her cutting off the tip of her ring finger on a broken bottle). Apart from the gushing blood from her wound, there's also a gruesome shot of the blood filling up the bottle on the conveyor belt. She then hallucinates the bloodied cut-off tip of her finger boiling in a glass of water. The sweltering heat doesn't help matters. Iris ends up moving to a port town. After getting accommodation, she takes an interest in a sailor named Costa (Stipe Erceg), who just happens to be the same person who shares the room she's staying in. He works nights at the docks, and is only there when she is out.
Iris manages to find work, but it's at a creepy place, and inside is a creepy bloke (the man in the white lab coat from the opening scene). He informs her that their job is to "prepare specimens and preserve them". People bring in personal artifacts they want to keep forever and get a 'specimen' made of the objects. From this point on, she finds herself drawn to her employer.
He later takes her down to his "inner sanctum", where it is cooler, but also isolated. Everything's quiet down there, where he goes to "unwind" (apparently, preparing specimens is "tiring work"). He observes that the shoes she wears are "not stylish enough" for someone her age, and he gives her a pair of shoes that he's bought her. When she asks how he managed to guess her size (the shoes fit "like a glove"), he says that all he had to do was look at her foot to know its size. It's actually a very sexual moment, as he removes her shoes and puts on the ones he's given her. He tells Iris he would like her to wear the shoes every day, all the time, whether he's looking at her or not. As if his behaviour wasn't already questionable enough, on a day where she arrives at work in the rain, he gets her to undress in front of him.
Iris then meets a shoe-shiner, who compliments her shoes, but warns her that keeping them on all the time will lead to the possibility of losing her feet. He says that the shoes are "taking her over" - which becomes very important. There's a bit of humour injected when Iris informs a potential client that a specimen cannot be made out of a malevolent shadow. She then spends some time with her employer down in the bathroom, where they have a light-hearted moment of calling out, letting the sounds of their voices echo. One thing leads to another, they eventually end up having sex (he's quite forceful with her, but she seems to not be entirely against it). At one point, after asking her if there's not a specimen that she would like preserved, he urges her to remember her most painful memory. She then tells him the story of how she lost the tip of her ring finger. There's a great moment later on, with Iris swinging on one of the crane hooks by the harbour.
She eventually finds a note in her room from the sailor, saying that he's leaving and that he'd like to meet her before he goes. When she goes to meet him, however, he's kissing some other girl (the fool!), thereby totally blowing his chances with Iris. She's more interested in her boss anyway. Although Iris learns that other girls who'd worked for him had "vanished/disappeared", not to mention the fact that he makes her spend all day picking up the pieces of a Mahjong set she accidentally drops (and, oh yeah, he's a CREEP!), she still has sex with him. As she explains to the shoe-shiner later, she's unsure about her feelings and feels it is impossible for her to leave the place. The shoe-shiner informs her that if she doesn't take the shoes off immediately, she'll never be able to get away. He suggests she get a specimen of the shoes, so that her feet can be free, but she tells him she doesn't want them to be free.
She eventually asks the lab director to take her to the basement, but he won't do this unless she wants a specimen preserved. In the end, we see her take off her shoes and leave them as she disappears into a white light. The ending is open to interpretation. This was an odd movie, but not necessarily a "bad" one. Olga Kurylenko portrays Iris with lots of nuance. She's able to say SO much, with so few words. It's all there in her expressions/her eyes. You really feel for her character, and she's the main reason this film works. The haunting music and the beautifully-shot scenery contributes to the unnerving atmosphere. It's a film that you definitely have to think about, and you'll appreciate it more after repeated viewings.
The opening scene is of a young girl talking to a man in a white coat (Marc Barbé), asking if she can get a "specimen" of the fungi she's brought to him. We then get quite a beautiful piece of music (with a twinge of eeriness to it) playing over the interestingly-filmed opening credits, featuring the fungi.
Olga Kurylenko plays a young woman named Iris. When Iris is first introduced, she's working at a bottling plant (until she has an accident, involving her cutting off the tip of her ring finger on a broken bottle). Apart from the gushing blood from her wound, there's also a gruesome shot of the blood filling up the bottle on the conveyor belt. She then hallucinates the bloodied cut-off tip of her finger boiling in a glass of water. The sweltering heat doesn't help matters. Iris ends up moving to a port town. After getting accommodation, she takes an interest in a sailor named Costa (Stipe Erceg), who just happens to be the same person who shares the room she's staying in. He works nights at the docks, and is only there when she is out.
Iris manages to find work, but it's at a creepy place, and inside is a creepy bloke (the man in the white lab coat from the opening scene). He informs her that their job is to "prepare specimens and preserve them". People bring in personal artifacts they want to keep forever and get a 'specimen' made of the objects. From this point on, she finds herself drawn to her employer.
He later takes her down to his "inner sanctum", where it is cooler, but also isolated. Everything's quiet down there, where he goes to "unwind" (apparently, preparing specimens is "tiring work"). He observes that the shoes she wears are "not stylish enough" for someone her age, and he gives her a pair of shoes that he's bought her. When she asks how he managed to guess her size (the shoes fit "like a glove"), he says that all he had to do was look at her foot to know its size. It's actually a very sexual moment, as he removes her shoes and puts on the ones he's given her. He tells Iris he would like her to wear the shoes every day, all the time, whether he's looking at her or not. As if his behaviour wasn't already questionable enough, on a day where she arrives at work in the rain, he gets her to undress in front of him.
Iris then meets a shoe-shiner, who compliments her shoes, but warns her that keeping them on all the time will lead to the possibility of losing her feet. He says that the shoes are "taking her over" - which becomes very important. There's a bit of humour injected when Iris informs a potential client that a specimen cannot be made out of a malevolent shadow. She then spends some time with her employer down in the bathroom, where they have a light-hearted moment of calling out, letting the sounds of their voices echo. One thing leads to another, they eventually end up having sex (he's quite forceful with her, but she seems to not be entirely against it). At one point, after asking her if there's not a specimen that she would like preserved, he urges her to remember her most painful memory. She then tells him the story of how she lost the tip of her ring finger. There's a great moment later on, with Iris swinging on one of the crane hooks by the harbour.
She eventually finds a note in her room from the sailor, saying that he's leaving and that he'd like to meet her before he goes. When she goes to meet him, however, he's kissing some other girl (the fool!), thereby totally blowing his chances with Iris. She's more interested in her boss anyway. Although Iris learns that other girls who'd worked for him had "vanished/disappeared", not to mention the fact that he makes her spend all day picking up the pieces of a Mahjong set she accidentally drops (and, oh yeah, he's a CREEP!), she still has sex with him. As she explains to the shoe-shiner later, she's unsure about her feelings and feels it is impossible for her to leave the place. The shoe-shiner informs her that if she doesn't take the shoes off immediately, she'll never be able to get away. He suggests she get a specimen of the shoes, so that her feet can be free, but she tells him she doesn't want them to be free.
She eventually asks the lab director to take her to the basement, but he won't do this unless she wants a specimen preserved. In the end, we see her take off her shoes and leave them as she disappears into a white light. The ending is open to interpretation. This was an odd movie, but not necessarily a "bad" one. Olga Kurylenko portrays Iris with lots of nuance. She's able to say SO much, with so few words. It's all there in her expressions/her eyes. You really feel for her character, and she's the main reason this film works. The haunting music and the beautifully-shot scenery contributes to the unnerving atmosphere. It's a film that you definitely have to think about, and you'll appreciate it more after repeated viewings.