NUIT NOIRE

Oscar, a conservator at the Natural Sciences Museum, passes the days exercising his passion for studying insects; if only there were still days. As long as people can remember, the sun only releases a few pathetic rays for fifteen seconds before noon. The rest of the time, the world is plunged into a night without end, a permanent eclipse. Coming home after work, Oscar finds an African woman in his bed. Suffering from a mysterious and incurable disease, she seems to have come to his place to die. Trapped between desire and repulsion, Oscar gradually abandons his life to terrifying phantoms. It’s finally here, the long awaited long feature debut of talented short filmer Olivier Smolders (Adoration, Seuls, Mort à Vignolle). And he hasn’t let us down. Nuit Noir is mysterious, ghostly, balancing in a sort of unfathomable limbo somewhere between interior horror and the need for redemption. Nuit Noir radiates the sort of solitude that nobody or nothing can cure. Technically impeccable, being shot in HD and continuously bathing in a magical, surreal light, Smolders’ movie does not only make you think of David Lynch’s Eraserhead, but also delves deep into the long tradition of Belgian absurdity and surrealism.