JCVD

A film set in Belgium. Jean-Claude Van Damme plays himself. The film opens on an action sequence. A long unbroken take; the man runs, fights, moves through explosions. Then it cuts. A set, a director, an argument; he is tired and does not want to shoot it again. From there the film moves into his real life. Van Damme is at the bottom of his career. The parts have thinned, the offers shrunk, and his rivals do the same work cheaper. There is a custody case. He is about to lose his daughter and his own films are being used against him in court. His money runs out. He goes back to Brussels. He goes into a post office. He wants to send a transfer. There is a robbery inside. From the outside it looks different. The police believe the man robbing the place is Van Damme. The street fills. A crowd gathers and people cheer for him; nobody knows what is happening. What the narrative is interested in is not a robbery but an image: its idea is that the man is trapped inside his own star image, and that in a real situation the image is of no use at all. The hostages expect heroism from him. He cannot deliver it. There is a scene in the middle. Van Damme looks at the camera, rises as though on a set, and speaks directly for six minutes. He talks about his life. Drugs, marriages, money, children and regret. That section is one take and rests entirely on the actor. The narrative does not run straight. The same event is shown several times from different angles. The image is drained and yellow; the colour has been deliberately pulled. Jean-Claude Van Damme, François Damiens and Zinedine Soualem are in the cast. Mabrouk El Mechri directed. Who it is for: anyone who likes films where genre actors play themselves and narratives that think about a career. Who it is not for: anyone expecting action; after the first scene the film is almost entirely talk.