18, 91 mins
This dreary, misanthropic drama takes place in a small settlement in the French region of the title, and in an unspecified Arab country where some of the village's young men are sent to fight. The director, Bruno Dumont, uses nonprofessional actors, and their rough edges and general lack of presence are a drag on what is already a leaden plot with dull, nasty characters. The realistic battle scenes are certainly tense, but rape, child-killing and instant death are all handled with such a sense of distance, any real involvement is virtually impossible. Even the French landscape is depicted as washed out and decaying.