7 Days

Rape-revenge movies are not a new invention, dating back to 1960 with Ingmar Bergman's The Virgin Spring, but the most notorious/famous (delete as applicable) is probably Meir Zarchi's I Spit on Your Grave (aka Day of the Woman) and there have also been numerous films in which a lone vigilante decides that the legal system is insufficient so decides to take the law into his own hands (Death Wish, Dirty Harry, The Brave One).

7 Days takes a little of both, beginning with Sylvie Hamel going out to work and leaving her husband, a doctor who has been working nights, to stay at home and sleep whilst their eight-year-old daughter, Jasmine, walks to school by herself with invitations to her upcoming ninth birthday party. Bruno Hamel sleeps through the day and is only woken when one of Jasmine's friends knocks on the door to bring some homework for his daughter who didn't return to school after the lunch break. A message was left on the answerphone, but Bruno slept through the call.

It isn't long before Jasmine's body is found and an immediate examination reveals that she was raped before being murdered. Bruno was quickly on the scene and, like his wife, is overcome with grief. Telling Sylvie that he is going to the hospital, Bruno takes trips out, contacting various people and buying things with cash. Although Sylvie knows that he is not going to the hospital, having phoned his place of work where no one has seen him and then his mobile which isn't answered, she doesn't press him for details about what he does during the day.

Everything is revealed when the Anthony Lemaire, the prime suspect, whose DNA matches the sperm found in Jasmine, is on his way to court when the van suddenly lurches one way then the other before coming to rest on the grass verge. Bruno, who was following close behind, tells the other guard that he is a doctor and can help the driver, who has passed out at the wheel before pulling a gun on the policeman, ordering him out and sedating Lemaire before taking him to a secret location.

In a lakeside house, Bruno has constructed a custom-built room which, for the want of a better phrase, is a torture chamber with a winch and an adjustable wooden frame with straps. Whilst the police are trying to figure out what happened to the prisoner transport vehicle and the driver, Bruno takes the unconscious Lemaire, strips him, winches up into the air and then straps him to the table. After taking a sledgehammer to the bloke's knee, he contacts the police and tells them that he has Lemaire and intends to torture him for seven days before executing him on the last, Jasmine's birthday, at which point he will turn himself in.


7 Days could quite easily fall into the so-called 'torture porn' category, focusing entirely on Bruno doing extremely nasty things to Lemaire for most of its 100 minute running time but instead it delves more deeply into the effects of grief and anger on a bereaved couple and what it must feel like to have someone you utterly despise at your mercy. This isn't to say that there aren't some extremely tough scenes as Bruno is a surgeon and has taken a ventilator, surgical equipment, antibiotics and other medical supplies from the hospital as well as equipping himself with more blunt instruments like a sledgehammer and a chain. This clearly won't be a film for those of a nervous disposition or with a weak stomach as the scene in which Bruno takes a sledgehammer to his victim's leg is the quickest and easiest to watch as, from there, things get progressively worse for Lemaire culminating in Bruno paralysing him with curare whilst keeping him conscious and taking a scalpel to his abdomen. It was a wise decision by director Daniel Grou not to linger on any of the violent scenes and, although you see Lemaire's leg being broken, this is done from a distance and, just as the surgery is getting under way, it cuts to black.


Whilst we see Bruno's more aggressive side, we also see the dehumanising effect of the violence and Bruno's struggle to avoid breaking down completely when his wife doesn't fully agree with what he's doing. One of the more interesting subplots is his dialogue with the lead investigator, a detective superintendent whose wife was shot and killed in a supermarket robbery all for the sake of $58 and, as Bruno discovers, doesn't sleep easily knowing that his wife's killer is in prison. The fact that Bruno begins the film with such a steely exterior and cold and calculating manner before struggling to comprehend the full extent of what he's done is an interesting addition to the 'vengeance versus Justice' argument and whether an ordinary member of the public could take someone who has murdered a loved one and really go through on their boast that they would do the same to them.

The film was adapted from Patrick Senécal's bestselling novel Les sept jours du talion by Senécal himself and is one of the most intense and thought-provoking films I've seen in recent years. The torture scenes may lead to comparisons with the Saw and Hostel films but this is something entirely different, concentrating as much (if not more so) on the perpetrator of the violence than on the retribution itself.


THE DISC

Extra Features
I imagine that there is some supplementary material out there but it is probably in French and securing the rights may be difficult so all that the disc contains is the trailer.

The Picture
A remarkably crisp and clear transfer with excellent contrast levels, detail and SFX make-up which truly brings the horror of the torture sequences to your attention. The set decoration is extremely good and really brings the horror of the situation to light and the cinematography really helps in these situations as everything is well lit, in full focus and extremely well framed.

Before Bruno really gets to work, you see Anthony Lemaire hopping around on one leg with the other horrendously disfigured with the knee joint grotesquely swollen. When it comes to surgery, that scene is extremely believable and, although you know that the scalpel is only cutting into rubber, it doesn't make it any easier to watch.


The Sound
The disc comes with Dolby Digital 5.1 surround and 2.0 stereo soundtracks and, unsurprisingly, the 5.1 track is the pick of the two with a beautifully balanced and mixed with extremely clear dialogue and Foley effects for the scene in which Bruno takes a chain to his prisoner's body.

The excellent score really highlights the horror and desperate nature of the situation, perfectly underscoring the more visceral scenes whilst highlighting the emotion when things begin to get on top of Bruno.


Final Thoughts
Of all of the recent vigilante films that I've seen, 7 Days is right up near the top as an intelligent and thought provoking horror film that shows the true emotional cost of seeking revenge on someone who has murdered your daughter. This is a film that something like Law Abiding Citizen wanted to be but failed dramatically as the central premise simply did not work and the main character was so far-fetched and unbelievable. In this case, Bruno and Sylvie are completely plausible characters and Bruno's actions are entirely believable as a motivated surgeon would have the intelligence and wherewithal to pull off such a heist, construct (or hire someone to construct) the necessary equipment and keep the police this trail for long enough for him to do what he wants to do.

For fans of horror films and revenge movies in general, this is well worth watching all though, if you are not a hardened gorehound, some of the scenes may make you turn away.