Un jeu d'enfants (2001)
Directed by Laurent Tuel

Film Review

One of the better class of psychological thriller in recent years, Un jeu d'enfants is a gripping yet quite disturbing tale of obsession and delusion.   After a cleverly ambiguous beginning, it soon becomes clear that the film is being presented from the distorted perspective of a stressed-out married couple, so that implausible and irrational events take on a terrifying sense of realism, locking the viewing in a nightmare world from which there is no escape.

Strong performances from lead actors Karin Viard and Charles Berling lend the story credibility which it might otherwise lack, whilst the excellent photography contrasts, with great effect, the banality of everyday life with the chilling horror of mounting paranoia.

Film Synopsis

After inheriting a spacious Parisian apartment from a relative, Marianne Fauvel, a translator, wastes no time moving in with her husband Jacques and their two young children, Julien and Aude.  For a while, it seems to be the perfect home and the family couldn't be happier.  Then, one day, two strangers present themselves on Marianne's doorstep and politely ask if they may be admitted.  They are an elderly couple who introduce themselves as Mr and Mrs Worms.  It seems that they once lived in the apartment when they were children and are keen to take one last look over it, because it holds such happy memories for them both.  Naturally, Marianne gives her consent, but not long after the Worms have gone on their way things suddenly begin to take a turn for the worse for the Fauvels.

It is as if a curse has suddenly been placed on the unfortunate family.  Marianne is almost arrested for shop-lifting, Jacques attacks one of his work colleagues and has a nervous breakdown, and their children start to behave creepily, as if they were possessed.  As things go from bad to worse, Marianne has good reason to believe that the apartment is the cause of all her problems.  It isn't long before she uncovers the terrible series of events that took place here some years ago and which still leave their imprint in the fabric of the building.  The Fauvels' nightmare is only just beginning.  Far worse is to come...