A more sedate, enigmatic twist on such "I must possess you at all costs" dramas like The Collector, Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! and, God forbid, Boxing Helena, La captive boasts an impressive pedigree. Director Chantal Akerman (A Couch in New York), she of the languid pace and formalist eye, certainly wasn't courting the mainstream by tackling a Marcel Proust adaptation; the notoriously abstract author (whose Time Regained was adapted one year before this) has proven a tough nut for filmmakers and most literature professors to crack, but Akerman gets props for her own version of La Prisonniere, the fifth book in his A la recherche du temps perdut (Remembrance of Lost Time).
Here the characters seem to exist in a vacuum, moving in their own distinct patterns which occasionally overlap but without providing any real satisfaction. Simon's muted frustration seems to be directed primarily at Ariane, though the hermetic nature of his entire environment seems to be a more probable cause. As a result, Akerman's static, stately takes in each scene take on a heavy atmospheric significance that will please patient art house viewers while driving many others screaming for the exits.
Following on the heels of a UK disc release, Kim Stim's modestly appointed but satisfying DVD features a colorful, satisfying transfer enhanced for 16x9 monitors and featuring English subtitles. The source material displays a few minor blemishes here and there, but it's an improvement over the more ragged (and badly authored) UK release.
The biggest extra is a video interview with Akerman (clocking in just under half an hour) in which she discusses the various thematic threads of the film and how it influenced her aesthetic directorial decisions. Another shorter interview (eight minutes) features Talstud discussing her own approach to the film and her maddeningly vague character. The French theatrical trailer is also included.
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by Nathaniel Thompson
