“Harassed”, Samuel L. Jackson sociopath

Neil LaBute is a director apart. In a few films, he has succeeded in creating a fictitious, curious universe in which kitsch mingle with television borrowings, theatrical procedures, the quest for secret sins and erotic tensions.

Deeply religious (he is a Mormon), Neil LaBute readily tackles appearances: thus, in “Harassed” (in VO: “Lakeview Terrace”), he imagines a young couple (he is white, she is black), who ‘moved to a relatively comfortable neighborhood in California. Their neighbor, who is a zealous policeman (Samuel L. Jackson), will interfere in the life of this couple, because, being himself black, he disapproves of this union. Very quickly, he turns the lives of his neighbors into hell …

An impression of unease, desired by the director

This is one of Neil LaBute’s hallmarks: he likes to show sociopaths who put the lives of normal (or almost) people at risk. In “In the Company of Men”, he analyzed the cruel, even barbaric, working relationships in a commercial company. In “Nurse Betty”, he showed the pretenses of show biz. In “False Appearances”, he detailed … false appearances. Here, he forces the viewer to make moral choices. The film leaves an impression of unease, desired by the director. Basically: Would the situation be more acceptable if the cop was… white? To each his own truth.Saturday September 19 at 10:35 p.m. on Ciné + Emotion. American thriller by Neil LaBute (2007). With Samuel L. Jackson, Patrick Wilson, Kerry Washington. 1h51. (In multicast and On demand).

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