Rotten Tomatoes Logo Do you want to see ‘Calvaire (The Ordeal)’?

Calvaire (The Ordeal) (2004)

tomatometer

36

Average Rating: 5.4/10
Reviews Counted: 22
Fresh: 8 | Rotten: 14

No consensus yet.

43

Average Rating: 5.3/10
Critic Reviews: 7
Fresh: 3 | Rotten: 4

No consensus yet.

audience

51

liked it
Average Rating: 3.1/5
User Ratings: 18,210

My Rating

Movie Info

A traveling entertainer falls prey to a disturbed recluse in director Fabrice Du Welz's twisted, slow-burn riff on Deliverance and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Having finished his latest performance at a remote retirement home, wandering singer Marc Stevens (Laurent Lucas) packs his gear into his van and sets out towards his next gig. Unfortunately for Marc, the fog-shrouded roads of rural France are more treacherous than he ever anticipated. When his van breaks down in the middle of the night

Oct 3, 2006

Palm Pictures

Cast

All Critics (29) | Top Critics (8) | Fresh (8) | Rotten (14) | DVD (6)

Du Welz has definite visual-dramatic talent. (Calvaire was a Cannes festival pick.) But, like Norman Bates' car, he need to get pulled out of the swamp.

October 26, 2006 Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | Comment
Chicago Tribune
Top Critic IconTop Critic

What sells this movie is the realistic attention to detail and the bravura direction of Fabrice Du Welz, who draws a gut-wrenching performance from Lucas.

October 6, 2006 Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | Comment
San Francisco Chronicle
Top Critic IconTop Critic

By the time it reaches its final act, the film rivals its American counterparts in intensity if not quite in explicit violence.

August 14, 2006 Comment
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Director-co-writer Fabrice du Welz has taken a clichéd premise and infused it with a stylish perversity that should have horror fans squealing with delight.

August 12, 2006 Comment
New York Post
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Director Fabrice Du Welz doesn't reinvent the backwoods-freakshow formula, but there is something undeniably entertaining about violent psychos who are also committed art lovers.

August 12, 2006 Full Review Source: New York Daily News | Comment
New York Daily News
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Directed by the newcomer Fabrice du Welz, the Belgian horror film Calvaire is pompous, but not without talent or shivers.

August 10, 2006 Comment
New York Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

a surrealist fairy tale bringing gothic glee to its meditations on performance and passion.

August 2, 2007 Full Review Source: Eye for Film | Comment
Eye for Film

A glossy rehash that's far less interesting and frightening than the classics upon which it's unimaginatively modeled.

January 11, 2007 Full Review Source: Lessons of Darkness | Comment
Lessons of Darkness

if you've got a black sense of humor you might just find yourself laughing down the vomit.

December 29, 2006 Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | Comment
Filmcritic.com

Not so much scary as just plain brutal.

October 5, 2006 Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | Comment
Combustible Celluloid

So dead-set on being disturbing that it ends up tripping over its own hobbled feet and evoking fewer gasps than curdled little giggles.

September 23, 2006 Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | Comment
Austin Chronicle

Completely gratuitous. Don't bother.

August 21, 2006 Comment
Greenwich Village Gazette

Naming one character after cult director Paul Bartel is obvious enough, but why saddle the other with the moniker of a notorious '70s porn star?

August 12, 2006 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | Comment
TV Guide's Movie Guide

Often more haunting and disturbing for what you don't see than for what you do.

August 11, 2006 Full Review Source: ComingSoon.net | Comment
ComingSoon.net
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Calvaire (The Ordeal)

Boring artsy-fartsy horror

September 29, 2010
arashxak
Arash Xak

Super Reviewer

Infuriating, amateurish crap; the end result of a fitfully inventive mind watching too many American horror movies and deciding to piece together an absurdist homage comprised of about four or five mildly interesting set pieces. There's not much reason to care about all the obtuse, heavily-implemented symbolism, as its

November 1, 2009
ceWEBrity

Super Reviewer

Calvaire (The Ordeal) Quotes

No quotes approved yet for Calvaire (The Ordeal). Logged in users can submit quotes.

Latest News for Calvaire (The Ordeal)

November 30, 2006:
Critical Consensus: "Nativity" Is Too Safe; "Turistas" Not Worth Trip
This week at the movies, we've got a new take on the first Noel ("The Nativity Story,"...

October 26, 2006:
Critical Consensus: "Fire" Blazes; "Scissors" Isn't Sharp Enough; "Saw III" Not Screened: Guess The Tomatometer!
This week at the movies, we've got the return of Jigsaw ("Saw III," starring Tobin Bell),...

What's Hot On RT

Luis Guzman
Luis Guzman

What are his 10 best movies ever?

<em>Amazing Spider-Man</em>
Amazing Spider-Man

See the all-new action-packed trailer!

The Avengers!
The Avengers!

Five new Marvelous pictures

Total Recall
Total Recall

Unconventional Superheroes

Top Movie Quizzes

LEGO Mania: 2011 Best Picture Nominees
by natalie - 18,535 taken
created 12 months ago
How Much Do You Know About Leonardo DiCaprio?
by natalie - 44,353 taken
created 15 months ago
Pixar Movies!
by jdikwlzviv - 27,106 taken
created 15 months ago
The Wizards of Harry Potter
by jdikwlzviv - 27,614 taken
created 15 months ago

Foreign Titles

  • The Ordeal (Calvaire) (DE)
  • The Ordeal (Calvaire) (UK)
Help | About | Jobs | Newsletter | Critics Submission | API | Licensing | Blog | Developers | Mobile