Bad luck for this burglar! Willem Dafoe finds himself stuck in Inside of Vasilis Katsoupis, a claustrophobic fable in which he plays an art thief, the solitary prisoner of a luxurious New York penthouse. Heaven ? Not really because a breakdown in the protection system isolates him for a specific time in this golden prison.
“The film deals with elementary subjects, survival, needs, our thought patterns, our sources of pleasure, the way we look at our lives,” explains Willem Dafoe in the press kit. The actor is at the center of almost wordless suspense where he finds it all the more difficult to survive as a broken thermostat causes him to go from unbearable heat to freezing cold, the water is cut off and the food is rare.
A fascinating performance
The vast apartment seems to gradually close in on the hero who only knows from the outside the building’s surveillance screens and the terrace to which he cannot access. His descent into hell causes him to sink into a destructive madness which offers a beautiful reflection on what art is and what it represents when one is reduced to surviving. “Every day, I hardened myself, I immersed myself in the character, in his body, in his appearance, in his smell,” explains Willem Dafoe. His remarkable performance makes the progression of his character fascinating.
Insidean ironic work with an original concept, is reminiscent of The Square by Ruben Östlund with his provocative side and devastating humor.