Arriving in Paris from New York after graduating from university and splitting with his girlfriend, Simon has no idea what he’s going to do there beyond trying to find the focus lost during the break-up. What he actually does is the subject of Simon Killer, an unsettling, atmospheric yet not wholly satisfying second film as director from Antonio Campos, the producer of the more-recent Martha Marcy May Marlene, which also featured Brady Corbet. Simon Killer was devised while that was being completed.
As the repellent and unfathomable Simon, Corbet is on screen the whole time. He may or may not be in contact with his ex-girlfriend. Anything he says or does is questionable. He provokes an attack on himself to generate the sympathy necessary to move into the flat of Victoria (Mati Diop), a prostitute he has encountered. She reveals her real name, acknowledging that she too is adopting a role but for reasons of professional necessity. Simon meets another young woman who cottons on to the contradictions of his fabrications. The film steers Simon towards the inevitably violent climax of his relationship with Victoria.
Simon Killer draws the viewer in. It is disturbing. Corbet is disquieting. But the film’s coldly efficient delivery renders it as though seen under glass: Simon drifts through Paris insulated by his headphones and the soundtrack they generate.
The DVD package is exemplary and includes a fat book with an in-depth essay and interviews with Campos and Corbet and, hilariously, their mothers. A making-of is assembled in the waking-dream style of the film, and Campos's short The Last 15. It all shows the thought and craft put a film which is not as involving as it probably wishes to be.
Watch director Antonio Campos discuss Simon Killer
