C’est arrivé près de chez vous”, a cult film typical of Belgian cinema, was released 30 years ago at the height of the 1992 Cannes Film Festival.
What’s also certain is that, as you read these few lines, you remembered other punchlines from the film “C’est arrivé près de chez vous”, directed by the trio Rémy Belvaux, André Bonzel and Benoît Poelvoorde! ? A film that could sum up our cinema in a nutshell. It’s surreal, different, daring, a bit DIY, often imitated but never equaled. A cinema in which we find emotion, laughter (in this case black, yellow because we regret having laughed after certain scenes, and blood-red) and reflection (criticism of the sensationalist media).
The film “C’est arrivé près de chez vous” follows the daily life of Benoît, a serial killer. Not content with telling us about his daily life, the TV crew filming him is also subjected to his philosophical ravings, his views on the world and… his poetry.
A truly unclassifiable work, “C’est arrivé…” was first presented in 1992 (30 years ago) at the Semaine de la Critique, a competition organized alongside the Cannes Film Festival. The festival, presided over by Gérard Depardieu, opened on May 7 with the screening of “Basic Instinct”, another sulphurous film. It was then that the world of cinema discovered the creative genius of the Belgian trio and, above all, of their lead actor, Benoit Poelvoorde. On the Croisette, everyone wanted his interview. On the other hand, the critics were mixed. For some, like the editors of Positif magazine, “thanks to the talent, audacity and inventiveness of its authors, the work […] goes beyond the laws of genre to offer a lively reflection on the representation of violence in cinema.” For others, like Télérama, “all we see is a bunch of hilarious gossips going round in circles with their easy provocations…”
The film’s producer, Vincent Tavier, still remembers the critical week at Cannes: “There were fights and riots outside the cinemas. Everyone wanted to see the film. We didn’t know anything about it, we were very naive… when it came to distribution and contracts. And then the film was in the hands of other people, we didn’t understand anything anymore, and it all went to hell, the management of the film escaped us…”
Interestingly, at Cannes that same year, a young director presented his first feature film, Reservoir Dog (this 92 edition is definitely a sultry one). And on seeing the Belgian poster, this director, a certain Quentin Tarantino, exclaimed: “This film, I want to see it!” A poster that caused quite a stir at the time. On the first version, we see Ben, low-angled, with his arm outstretched, at the end of which a revolver is being used to shoot a… baby. We don’t see the child, just its pacifier flying in a spray of blood. Deemed very violent, a new version was born with a denture in place of the pacifier. Are dentures less shocking? There’s no age limit for causing a stir! It’s also worth noting that Tarantino and Poelvoorde have (finally) reunited. It was in 2004, on the jury for the official competition, again at Cannes. Quentin presided, and Benoit entertained journalists at every press conference.