the intruder / l’intrus (claire denis, 2004)

rich, strange, and tantalizingly enigmatic, claire denis’s uncanny odyssey is a mesmeric sensory experience that haunts like a half-remembered dream. inspired by a book by philosopher jean-luc nancy, the intruder skips across time and continents—from the alpine wilds to a neon-lit korea to a tropical tahiti suffused with languorous melancholy—as it traces the journey of an inscrutable, ailing loner (michel subor) seeking both a black-market heart transplant and his long-lost son. an impressionist wash of hallucinations, memories, and dreams are borne along on the lush textures of agnès godard’s shimmering cinematography.