Alleluia (2014)

Directed by: Fabrice Du Welz
Country: Belgium / France

Movie Review: An unsettling portrait of an uncontrollable obsessive love, which becomes stained by blood, is what the Belgian film director, Fabrice Du Welz, submits in his fourth and strongest feature-length, “Alleluia”, a twin of the classic noir ‘Honeymoon Killers’. The film, celebrating an infusion of crime thriller and horror, is divided into four acts, each of them corresponding to a different woman. These women are the victims of Michel (Laurent Lucas), a persuasive sort-of-sorcerer with a fetish for feet, who seduces them (marrying if needed) with the unique goal of seamlessly steal their money, so he can proceed with his comfortable life. In the first of these acts, he conquers Gloria (Lola Dueñas), a morgue employee and single mother who shortly finds out his dishonorable intentions, but resolves to forgive and accept him as he is. She even decides to leave her beloved daughter behind for a while to help him in his following schemes. Pretending to be his sister, she is invaded by a fierce jealousy every time he’s with his new ‘brides’, a state only comparable to an evil possession that shoves her to kill brutally and remorselessly. Even if not original, the energy and eeriness put on the scenes were sufficient to instantly catch our eye. The camera moves fast, in bold movements, often relying on close-ups to intensify the immoral insanity of the couple. Technically, “Alleluia” offers much to admire. In addition to Vincent Cahay’s score, which varies from intensively glum to frantically rhythmic, cinematographer Manuel Dacosse was able to extract beauty from the most horrific scenes, continuing the amazing work he has presented in Cattet/Forzani’s vividly colored films. Competently edited by Anne-Lore Guéguin, the obscene “Alleluia” is a perverse odyssey of love and madness.