Friday, February 13, 2009

La Boîte noire (The Black Box)


Saw this on Star Movies yesterday - French movie with subtitles.


Story: Arthur is driving on a steep road. Suddenly his car skids, and he has a major accident. After he wakes up, he has trouble remembering details of his life.

But there is hope. While he was not conscious, he blurts out a lot of details which the hospital nurse picks up. She writes it all down in a black diary. These notes contain the keys to various parts of his subconscious memory - or the "black box" that is present in everyone's mind.


There is a lingering trauma in Arthur's life that had happened when he was young. He must solve this to have peace. Arthur desperately tries to solve this puzzle with the help of these snippets. The way he goes about doing that and what happens to him along the way forms the basis of the movie.

The movie cuts from reality to fantasy and back so quickly that one is kept guessing as to what is being currently shown - is it a dream or not?


The end was sadly below my expectations. Also after having watched Memento, I would rank this one as much lower than that.

See it for the visual effects (good old camera work, not animation) and slick direction.