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Editorial Review:
- Panoramique (:1) - Adapte aux ecrans 16X9 - 2.0 Dolby Surround
Le Supplement: Reflections d'Enfer (NOn Classe) In Paris, dans les annees 80, un homme libere de prison est rejete pas sa femme. A bout de nerfs, il la frappe sauvagement, puis se jette par la fenetre sous les yeux de ses trois filles. Aujourd'hui les trois soeurs maintenant adultes, vivent chacune leurs vies. Le lien familial est rompu. Sophie, l'ainee est mariee a Pieree, un photographe avec qui elle a eu deux enfants. Leur couple vacille. Celine, celibataire, est la seule a s'occuper de la mere impotente placee dans une maison de retraite. Anne, etudiante en architecture, a une relation passionnelle avec Frederic, l'un de ses professeurs. Un jeune homme va entrer en contact avec Celine. Sebastien, plein de charme, semble vouloir la seduire. Le revelation qu'il va lui faire va rapprocher les trois soeur, leur permettre d'accepter leur passe et peut-etre d'oser vivre pleinment. In Paris in the 1980's a man fresh from his release from prison, is rejected by his wife. After a violent confrontation he throws himself from his appartment window. This is witnessed by his young daughters. In present day in Paris, the sisters, now grown up, live in their own lives. The family bonds are broken. Sophie, the eldest, is married with young children, but suspect her photographer husbund of having an affair. The youngest sister, Anne, is a student involved in a messy relationship with one of her tutors. Middle sister Celine lives a solitary and joyless life, caring for their diffcult mother. When a young man starts to take an interest in her, she little suspects the ture motive behind his approaches.
L'enfer (Hell) (original French version - with English Subtitles) Reviews:
Hommage to Krzysztof Kieslowski 
2008-11-29 - Because of the K.K. relationship I went to a fair amount of trouble to obtain this (my copy is Region 2, PAL, whereas I am Region 1, NTSC). The story-line seemed to have great possibilities, and it would indeed have been wonderful to see what K.K. would have done with it. But try as he did, Danis Tanovic's rendition leaves a lot to be desired. One of the most bizarre elements in the film is the hair on Carole Bouquet. Part that really brought a smile to my old face: the old lady shuffling up to the waste disposal to put a bottle in (K.K. lovers will understand). Wish I could recommend, but no.
Where was Piaf when we needed her?
Is that all there is? 
2008-01-23 - Despite an impressive pedigree, Danis Tanovic's adaptation of an unfilmed Kieslowski script L'Enfer feels like a shaggy dog story at times despite some good scenes and at least one powerful moment with some overheard lovemaking. The story doesn't stand up to too much scrutiny, following the lives of three sisters who have lost touch but are still linked by the emotional fallout of their father's suicide while they were still children. The youngest, Marie Gillain, is having an affair with her own father figure (Jacques Perrin), the father of her best friend; the middle sister, Emmanuelle Beart, is in the dying days of a failed marriage to a philandering photographer (Jacques Gamblin); while the oldest, Karen Viard, is an emotional shut-in looking after their wheelchair bound mother (Carole Bouquet, particularly unconvincing in old age makeup and a terrible silver wig) and possibly being romanced by an equally socially awkward Guillaume Canet.
As they all suffer in their private hells, made worse by slight glimmers of hope, the truth about their father's prison sentence for seducing a young male student finally comes to light, leading to... well, not very much, really. Once the not very surprising cat is out of the bag, the film doesn't really know what to make of its rather underwhelming revelation. The punchline is a song title, though when it's delivered you might find yourself thinking Is That All There Is? may have been a better choice.
The presence of Emmanuelle Beart, increasingly a monument to France's collagen and silicon industries as she unwittingly turns into a Tex Avery cartoon, almost sounds a warning note: this is her second film called L'Enfer after Chabrol's misfired 1994 of an unfilmed Henri-Georges Clouzot script. It's hard not to feel that the reason both projects never saw the light of projector with their original creators was because ultimately there wasn't quite enough there to justify the effort. Certainly there's the feeling that Kieslowski's reputation has assembled a more formidable array of talent than the same material from an unknown source would have done. In some ways, the impressive cast occasionally threaten to swamp the film. While it's always a pleasure you see Jean Rochefort, his casting in a bit part adds nothing to the movie but more weight of expectation that remains unfulfilled: he really has nothing much to do. Indeed, it's significant that it's Georges Siatidis' smitten train conductor who leaves the most lasting impression in a minuscule role rather than any of the heavyweights. It's by no means a terrible film, and it certainly holds the attention en route to its anticlimax.
Do you regret your past? 
2007-12-16 - This is the second movie Krzysztof Kieslowski had to direct but didn't. Part of his so-called legacy, a planned trilogy with his friend and co-writer Krzysztof Piesiewicz.
The first was the extraordinary "Heaven" by Tom Tykwer, which was closer to a finished script.
Hell is an amazing film. Daniel Tanovic forgot the inevitable foreign language winner destiny of slumming in Hollywood for a big budget crap film, and instead, went for the difficult task of making an homage to the master polish director, and at the same time putting his personal seal on the work.
"Hell" is both. Tanovic's direction is brilliant. Almost as if Kieslowski himself was wondering on the set with his cigarette in hand. The whole precept of the story is the past, its secrets and how they determine our lives (or the three sisters' lives). A whole discussion about faith, destiny and coincidence goes on around the whole movie, setting up the piece and mindset of the viewer. This is a bit less subtle than Kieslowski himself would do it, but works nevertheless thanks to the amazing performances on all the cast.
Tanovic placing of the camera is faultless, his transitions between the stories are sometimes dazzling, and his use of music had so perfect timing it gave me goose-bumps more than once.
As, in Three Colors: White, "Hell" finishes with a bang (don't worry I won't spoil it), a single phrase that hits us in the face.
This is one wonderful art film that deserves a better DVD edition, in the meanwhile we can watch and submerge in its deep dark guilt trip.
Wonderful.
