This story ,although fictionalized,is based on a news item.
This "beast in the basement" can be seen as an allegory : in every home ,it's hidden in internet as Maitre Carole Vasquez says : the witnesses disappear and pretty soon there will be none ;so this revisionism will spread among easily influenced people (particularly the young minds :see the daughter in the movie) ; the ending can be questioned ,taking the law in your own hand should never be the solution , but it's also a warning and it's not reassuring at all :"he" can come back whenever he wants ,because the basement is his -and internet is his- it's a warning;the director urges us to be careful: in 2022,if you do not fight against a rotten thing ,you become a part of it.
Let's forget the coincidence : a revisionist buys a basement by chance in a Jew's house ;And he's all the more dangerous since he's clever,educated, he has his own logic ("I don't affirm ,I ask questions" ) ;once again, the more lucid character in the whole movie lawyer Vasquez ,knows better : he wants to pass for a martyr ,the last ,lonely and wretched ;moreover,his language is ambiguous :doesn't he denounce the
12,000,000 American Indian genocide?
Looking like a homeless man, he's more threatening than a smiling fascist man dressed up to the nines.
And in the building ,there are people who can embrace his lies without a moment's hesitation , particularly far-right wing guys.
Daniel Auteuil is part of these actors who're not afraid of playing hateful parts (it might be his most impressive role since Nicole Garcia's "l adversaire"2002 ).the more pitiful he looks like,the more he gives you the jitters.
The family who sold this cellar is turned upside down : it brings back horrible memories ,back in 1942 ,when Jacques 's uncle was arrested and deported (the year of the round up of the Jews in the Paris Velodrome D'Hiver); matching Auteuil every step of the way is Jeremie Rénier's portrayal of this gentle bourgeois ,overtaken by events,pushed to the limit. Both are among Europa's finest thespians.
There are flaws (the daughter's behavior and the bon vivant lawyer sometimes do a disservice to the cause );but the message is clear :revisionism is one the most worrying plague,cancer of our society .The very last picture tells it so.
Directing shows a strong Roman Polanski's influence ,particularly "le locataire" (aka "the tenant") (1976)
