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Outside Satan

Play trailer Outside Satan 2013 1h 49m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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80% Tomatometer 44 Reviews 51% Popcornmeter 250+ Ratings
A drifter commits murder to protect a young woman from her tormentors.
Outside Satan

What to Know

Critics Consensus

Hors Satan grapples with weighty themes in uncompromising fashion, offering a viewing experience that dares to be divisive and delivers.

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Critics Reviews

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Ben Sachs Chicago Reader 08/02/2013
I find the movie mind-blowing, though it will likely alienate as many viewers as it impresses. Go to Full Review
Mark Asch Film Comment Magazine 01/18/2013
It's difficult to feel transported by the impossible when the film's world is already so clearly governed by the arbitrary. Go to Full Review
Kirk Honeycutt The Hollywood Reporter 01/18/2013
Inarticulate characters, long blank stares, forced camera angles and allegorical nonsense make up this pretentious study in quasi-religious ennui. Go to Full Review
Dustin Chang Floating World 02/24/2021
But Dumont's film strips down its religious undertones and goes for something more interesting and ambiguous. Not that there is no beauty in showing religious faith, but it's helluva more interesting if the protagonist might as well be a devil! Go to Full Review
Mattie Lucas From the Front Row 08/06/2019
3.5/4
The implications linger long after the film is over, and while it occasionally seems to be doing more meandering than exploring, Dumont provides us with much to contemplate, a hallmark of any great film. Go to Full Review
C.J. Prince Way Too Indie 06/21/2019
Dumont's oblique style will frustrate many (which it certainly did when it premiered at Cannes), but if you embrace the mystery it makes for one of 2013's most fascinating films. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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02/06/2014 disorientating,hypnotic,beautifully slow,mysterious and scary. Brilliant on a capful of Benylin. See more 08/25/2013 It is a film of minimal technique and the landscape, at least in the first 60 or so minutes of the film, becomes a dominant character that almost dwarfs the human drama that is played out across it. It is a film of intentional moral ambiguity. It has been noted in other reviews of this film that it could be read as an exploration of the duality of Good and Evil and their mutual dependance on one another. Those reviews also correctly point out that this film alludes to common Christian motifs, albeit one maybe informed by an extremely austere Catholicism possibly held by its characters. However, all have to seem to failed to recognize the other allegories to old held beliefs about witchcraft that, in part, derived from abandoned pre-Christian religions. Those religions had a pantheon of divinities that operated with more human motivations and lusts, but, more importantly, where sometimes more intimately communicant with nature and the environments their believers lived within. So, again, with the dominant role the landscape commands throughout the film, it does make one wonder if it was a possible aim as well. See more 07/20/2013 Pile of French rubbish See more 05/15/2013 A stark, meditative and ambiguous study of evil, good old Monsieur Dumont. See more 01/23/2013 An enigmatic young man (Dewaele), living in the marshes on the outskirts of a small town, appears to have healing powers. He is befriended by a young goth (Lematre), whose abusive father he shoots dead. As the film progresses, some fall victim to his murderous rampage while others are healed of their ills. Last year Dumont left his comfort zone with 'Hadewijch' a Paris set tale of religious fanaticism. It was his most mainstream work yet, following what was basically a straight narrative. His latest sees him return to his usual milieu of unattractive faces set against the grim backdrop of Northern France. It's self-indulgent garbage, consisting mainly of our protagonists walking across wind-swept fields. As is the norm for modern French cinema, it's filled with violence, though not as graphic as the work of most of Dumont's contemporaries. The movie is not only grim to look at, but rough on the ears too, thanks to Dumont's insistence on naturally recorded sound. Bizarrely, 'Hors Satan' shares a silly sight gag (a character pulled back comically by a wire after being shot) with 'Django Unchained'. It seems Tarantino saw this at Cannes last year. See more 01/06/2013 Beautiful and thoughtful. See more Read all reviews
Outside Satan

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Movie Info

Synopsis A drifter commits murder to protect a young woman from her tormentors.
Director
Bruno Dumont
Producer
Jean Bréhat, Rachid Bouchareb, Muriel Merlin
Screenwriter
Bruno Dumont
Distributor
New Yorker Films
Production Co
3B Productions, Le Fresnoy - Studio national des arts contemporains, CRRAV
Genre
Drama
Original Language
French (France)
Release Date (Theaters)
Jan 18, 2013, Limited
Runtime
1h 49m
Aspect Ratio
Scope (2.35:1)