Sheitan review SKINNYFEST

Film Review by Yasmin Sulaiman | 14 Aug 2006
Film title: Sheitan review SKINNYFEST
It is hard to fathom why Vincent Cassel, one of France's greatest living actors, is in this film. 'Sheitan' begins innocently, as a group of young people leave a club in the early hours and follow Eve, a member of their posse, to her isolated country house. Here, they meet Josef (Cassel) and his faceless, pregnant wife Mary. In this bleak setting, so far removed from the usual picturesque images of France that appear on our screens, the young friends are forced to confront their fearlessness until they come up against the very image of Sheitan - the Devil - himself.

It might be quite simple to overlook the faults of Kim Chapiron's film, and praise it for its worthy dissection of modern French race relations and its searing analysis of the perplexing role of religion in private life. Sadly, this is not the case; nor is it a plain, mindless horror flick. Instead, 'Sheitan' is more a cross between the earnest chiller and amusing send-up, haphazardly amalgamating its diverse elements to complete a vague semblance of a plot. But Cassel himself is wonderful as Josef, riding the fine line between the ridiculous and the grotesquely sublime, and rendering the entire film really quite hilarious.
August 19 (Midnight), Cameo 1.
August 20 (15.00), Cameo 1.
£7.95 (£5.20).