Les 7 jours du talion

Plot synopsis:
The ordinary life of surgeon Bruno Hamel (Claude Legault) is destroyed when his daughter Jasmine (Rose-Marie Coallier) is raped and murdered in a park. Upon learning that the police apprehended the prime suspect, laborer Anthony Lemaire (Martin Dubreuil), Hamel plans to take revenge. He abducts Lemaire while he is being brought to his trial by drugging the officer driving the transport vehicle and brings him to a secluded cabin. Using a remote-controlled computer to conceal his location, Hamel calls the police to inform them that he plans to murder Lemaire in seven days, the seventh day being Jasmine's birthday. After killing him, Hamel will give himself up to the police.
Police detective Mercure (Rémy Girard) leads the investigation to discover Hamel's whereabouts. Mercure himself suffered a personal tragedy when his wife was killed during a grocery store robbery. Though Mercure acknowledges that the imprisonment of his wife's killer has not made his life more bearable, he becomes determined to stop Hamel before he commits murder.
Over the course of the seven days, Hamel brutally tortures Lemaire. Initially frightened and in incredible pain, Lemaire starts to accept his fate and mocks Hamel for not enjoying himself as he inflicts painful injuries on him. Lemaire eventually admits to raping and murdering Jasmine, along with three other girls. Hamel contacts a news station to have the families of Lemaire's victims informed about his captive's confession. When the mother of one of Lemaire's victims disapproves of his actions, Hamel kidnaps her and forces her to see Lemaire.
By the seventh day, the police locate Hamel's cabin. Hamel gives himself up and lets Lemaire live. As the police lead him away, a reporter asks him if he still believes vengeance is right. Hamel responds with a "No." However, when asked if he regrets what he has done, he gives the same answer.

Tags: revenge, neo noir, murder

Review:
This movie is a very intense psychological thriller filmed in very grey and depressive images and words that create a perfect atmosphere for this doom slow paced movie.
Let me warn you first: There are not many torture scenes in this movie, so if you expect some gore stuff here, you may not be satisfied at all in the end.
But there are also metaphoric elements in this movie like the scenes with the dead deer body that represents the dead body of the raped and killed daughter that lead us slowly towards a melancholic end that many find unsatisfying but which fits perfectly to the whole atmosphere and intention of the movie.
When the father has kidnapped the murderer of his daughter and the police is looking for him, you expect that the tension and action raises, that each character's profoundness may be developed and that there are some disturbing twists but nothing happens at all.
This movie's strength is its depressive atmosphere and the main actor's brilliant acting but it has too much of a one man show.If you are looking for an alternative depressive psycho thriller with some philosophical elements, I highly recommend this movie for you.
Those who have watched Saw or Hostel will find the violence bearable, but this is not a gore movie like these two franchises; it is a psychological film.
"Does knowing your wife's murderer is behind bars make life any more bearable?""7 Days" is a powerful and brutal film about a happily married surgeon who as a result of the rape and murder of his daughter falls into a dark obsession with revenge.
There were a couple of things that didn't make much sense to do and the ending left a little to be desired."7 Days" may not be the cream of the crop of revenge flicks, but it does succeed where others fail.
Just like in the recent Australian revenge thriller The Horseman, we have another Father who's snapped and is now taking matters into his own hands on account of his little girl's demise.
But that's not to say this one, on any level, is less brutal.As I hinted at, 7 Days is a story of a Father's vengeance for his 8 year old daughter that was raped and murdered.
It's a simple story that people across the board can relate to, but only a select few would ever try to tackle; and it shows, as this is no joy-ride for the Father, and his actions against his daughter's killer are eating him up inside.7 Days is an engrossing film; with it's bleak and unforgiving style, it captured me right from the get go, and didn't let loose until the final scene.
This movie first and foremost delivers a story that thrusts you into the Father's shoes, and urges you to relate through either simple but affective symbolism, affective and violent outbursts, or scenes of pain-staking solitude.
And also adding in a sub-plot with a hardened but sensitive detective that's trying to stop our protagonist, the film only intensifies.7 Days is a graphic, intimate and emotional film that tells the story of questionable actions from the side you're supposed to be caring for.
The acting is superb, it is very much a "huis-clos" as we call it in French, a duel of actors in an enclosed space where no one else can see them.I'm not a fan of torture porn, I've never seen the Saw and Hostel movies as they aren't my cup of tea personally.
It takes you on a journey inside your own mind as you compare the emotions of those affected in the movie, and compare them to emotions you think you might feel if something as horrific as the initial crime should (heaven forbid) happen in your everyday normal life.The plot is simple, the direction is stark and unwavering, and the story is beautifully acted by all the players.
I really liked this movie and am sad to say that I do not want to watch it again.
While watching it you will go through a whole case of emotions, from anger, distraught, disgust to the feeling of love a father has for his daughter.
Amazingly acted and directed, this movie was done in a perfect, raw, way to help you feel what the father is going through.
Seems like a lot of plots now a days rely too heavily on the surprise twist and "I did not see that coming" response from the movie goer rather than emotion.
Revenge is sweet in 7 Days, a Canadian torture thriller in French when a surgeon's daughter is abducted, raped and killed by a low life criminal named Anthony.
I base myself on the fact that i've viewed a lot of horror films and psychological thrillers and the like, this is unlike any i have seen although i did watch a trailer on the DVD when it loaded about a little boy thats abducted and killed and the parents the father being a doctor get revenge 'the torture' although i haven't seen said film yet I'm kinda thinking its gonna be the same thing..I like the fact there is no soundtrack to this film, i really get a sense of the parents pain and I'm pretty sure if someone did that to my daughter i wouldn't be responsible for my actions either.Its graphic yet moving and the actors played the roles well..
And I'm not the type of guy who will rush in the theatres for a Canadian movie: Most of the time, I don't even like the films my country produces, as I am more of an American cinema follower.
Of course people are going to say this is a revenge movie like any other, but where Les 7 jours Du talion (or Seven days) differs from movies like The Last House on the Left is that the violence (which is surprisingly realistic and shocking) isn't there to excite the viewer, but it's there mostly to disturb him or her and does so effectively in this intense psychological drama.The story is about a surgeon named Bruno Hamel whose 8 year-old daughter Jasmine is kidnapped and brutally raped and murdered.
When the police think they have found the killer, Bruno kidnaps the main suspect and tells the police that for seven days, he will torture the man and kill him on the seventh day as an act of vengeance.
Reading this synopsis, you probably think that you have seen this material a lot already but no movie has shown this material in a more effective manner than seven days.
Seven days is a great psychological thriller, in which we can see deeply into the mind of a mourning father and his internal transition.If you're expecting movie with pain and blood you're going to get it, but you will probably be bored as this movie goes deeper and linger upon the thinking of the both, the criminal and the victim.Main character being a surgeon give the plot authenticity and the bloody scenes really leave no space for imagination.
But it's not like in most film, when you sympathize with the victim and you want the perpetrator to be stopped.As the movie goes on, you don't know what to think anymore.
On the other hand you start to ruminate if you would have the courage to do the same as the main character.In the first half of the movie you can see a beginning of a change from a good man, good husband and a good father to a ruthless coldblooded criminal, drifted by the pain from the loss of his daughter and most of all the guilt.And you have to wait until the very end to see if the transition will be completed..
When police arrest a man for the rape and murder of Dr. Bruno Hamel's 8-year old daughter, the distraught father (a strong performance from Claude Legault) seeks revenge, kidnapping the suspect and subjecting him to a week of unimaginable suffering while the police desperately attempt to track them down.Revenge is sweet, as the saying goes, but 7 Days challenges this notion: after inflicting untold pain and suffering on his victim, Bruno doesn't feel any better—he is just as empty inside, his grief no less severe than before, his anger unabated.
The film questions whether, despite our understandable wish to severely punish the human garbage who commit such evil crimes, revenge might not be the wisest route to take.Superb performances, tight direction from Daniel Grou, and some truly disturbing imagery make this film hard to ignore, but it is its highly debatable central theme—to torture or not to torture— that makes 7 Days a more powerful viewing experience than many of the 'torture' films that we've had to endure post-Saw..
The summary of the movie is this in a nutshell, "A father captures his daughter's killer/rapist and then doesn't know what to do next." Doesn't sound like a great revenge flick, and if I had known this from the beginning, I wouldn't have wasted my time..
I thought this dark drama had solid acting and a powerful message but it had a sluggish pace and I didn't agree with the main character's actions to advenge his daughters rape and murder and it's not one of those revenge thrillers that you root for the guy getting revenge, I pretty much felt sorry for both of them.
In the end I can't find anything that I really liked about this film, it just was way too bleak for me and it really didn't bring anything new to this genre and it just brings your mood down big time.
Overall there is some torture scenes in this movie that is not for the squeamish but it focuses more on the characters and how they deal with the crime than being that type of film, again more of a drama and judging from some early reviews it's overrated and nothing I will recommend or would want to see again, your're not missing out on anything amazing.
The coloring and cinematography really helps set that dark mood.After his young daughter gets raped and killed, a father sets out to revenge her..
Based on a novel by Patrick Senecal, "Les 7 jours du talion" tells the story of surgeon Bruno Hamel, whose daughter is brutally raped and murdered.
Hamel decides to do himself justice by kidnapping the murderer and plans on torturing him for seven days, after which he will execute him.Does this story sound familiar?
However, I can guarantee that the approach that this film takes is very refreshing and will manage to deliver plenty of food for thought and discomfort to its audience."Les 7 jours du talion" doesn't waste a lot of time in showing the perfect happy family clichéd scenes.
What happens next, as you may imagine, is a descent into one's personal hell, as he kidnaps the monster who killed his daughter, locks himself up with him in a secluded cabin in the middle of the woods, and performs horrible acts of torture on him.Keep in mind that this is a gruesome film.
The music isn't there to dictate how you should feel during the torture scenes, or when you see Bruno Hamel hold the mutilated dead body of his own daughter.
It's because they were anxious of what was going to happen next, because the music did not provide a single hint.The paradox behind the concept of revenge is the main theme of this film.
I can wholly empathise with Bruno the young man in the movie whose daughter has been murdered and his wishfulness for revenge to the killer.there are several films of this genre I wish to mention.
whether torture can be distinguished from unjustified violence in movies of this kind I am not sure.I enjoyed'seven days' and followed the sub titles throughout for English translation.
Yes there were some scenes which were overdone.I watched the film because oddly I like movies in the French language and the storyline from the DVD cover appealed to me.
But in the case of SEVEN DAYS, this film is predicated on the rape and murder of an eight year old girl, and this begs some form of intellectual or psychological conclusion at the very least.
Is revenge the only real justice when someone you love is killed at the hands of another?That is the question that '7 Days' asks and in a way lets the audience answer as they watch a Father (Claude Legault) get revenge on his daughter's killer (Martin Dubreuil).Jasmine Hamel, an 8 year old girl, left her home to pass out invitations door to door for her upcoming birthday party on her way to school.
Beware - the torcher scenes are graphic, realistic and very disturbing and there is a lot of full frontal male nudity (the accused rapist/murderer is stripped nude once kidnapped and naked the rest of the film).
However, I don't see the film as something only a sadist who enjoys the sub-genre of 'torcher porn' would like - b/c the movie is more about the emotions behind the actions than the actual physical pain.
This film is in the style of other shockingly dark French and foreign horror/revenge thrillers.A man's 8 year old daughter is raped and killed.
Dr Bruno Hamel (Claude Legault) is a devoted husband and father, who is struck with every parent's worst nightmare, when his eight year old daughter is brutally raped and murdered.
Hamel therefore resolves to kidnap the killer, take him away to a nice secluded spot, and systematically torture him for seven days, culminating in his execution, on what would have been his daughter's birthday.
Hamel, over a seven day period, tortures the rapist, as the police attempt to find him before he kills the man.
The torture itself happens in intervals as Hamel takes time out contemplating about the loss of his beloved child, dealing with intense grief and coming to grips with the rage and sorrow, returning to his victim to release pent up emotions, boozing as to make his job easier to handle.
Probably the most chilling scenes involve Hamel kidnapping the mother of a girl Lemaire killed(she confesses that she has moved on and doesn't agree with Hamel's torturous methods, this raising his ire)and Lemaire talking about Hamel's daughter(how she was the prettiest, crying out for her father to save her).
In the instance of the woman Hamel kidnaps, he has her confront the man who took her daughter(he feels she should never forget the person who done such horrific things to her child, closure or no, he should not get off that easy), placing her in the torture room to view his ravaged and chained body lying in a pile on the floor.
I watched this entirely in french so i cannot comment on any of the dialogue but i dont think it mattered in this, its not hard to understand, it was a sad movie and i thought that the torture scenes would be too much for me but i handled it fine because the man was so awful, what he did to the little girl was so awful, i really felt for the husband and wife, especially the husband, the acting was wonderful even without English subtitles, i was immersed in the story and felt pain along with the parents(obviously nothing compared to what parents actually feel in this situation ) so i cried my eyes out when he sees his daughters ghost and unties her and washes her, it was so ..
When the maniac is caught, the man kidnaps him while he is being transported to court and leaves a note saying he will torture the man for seven days, then kill him before turning himself in.Realistic look at revenge is a disturbing entry in the torture porn genre.
Seven Days carries no moral or cultural statement any more profound than the rather trivial observation that torturing someone for vengeance is wrong and probably won't satisfy you anyway - a point that is hammered home not through any nuances of plot or emotional drama, but by being bluntly stated in dialogue in the later stages of the film.I can't recommend this one, I give it 3 out of 10 because it's just about watchable..
Although the story is fairly weak in the movie, I feel that this is not that type of film, anyway.
In 7 Days, a doctors 8 year old daughter is brutally attacked and killed by a perp, who is later kidnapped from a truck, being hauled off into police custody.
I agree with others that have stated the lack of music, special effects and other " mood enhancements " leave the viewer, in particular fathers, to decide for themselves how the Dr, fathers, actions make them feel within themselves, rather than walk away able to say it was the directors choice of music or effects that made them feel the way they did, after watching the film.
It's very confronting for those that find themselves cheering for the Dr that it was the circumstances that left them feeling that way rather than effects or music choosing the moral viewpoint they adapt at the end of the film.
I for one felt that the Police officer who called in the fathers location towards the end betrayed any man finding that they are faced with the circumstances of the film.
I want to believe that upon finding myself in those circumstances that I would act just like the Dr. Any doubts that I had about those feelings disappeared when I saw the pedophile murderer, crying and trying to bargain his way out of his fate.
I'm going to review "7 Days" today, which is a Canadian/French horror revenge drama thriller ( WOW!
As if that's not disturbing enough, "7 Days" will explore how one man steps over the line of being sick enough to molest a child, but to murder an eight year old girl as well.
I was really looking forward to watching this as I love revenge films.