Fear Me Not

Though it boasts yet another expectedly powerful performance from actor Ulrich Thomsen, Fear Me Not, saddled with what is essentially a one-note premise, remains curiously uninvolving for the bulk of its running time. That the film has been infused with as slow a pace as one could possibly imagine certainly doesn’t help matters, as director Kristian Levring’s appropriately stark visual choices eventually become oppressive in their relentlessness. Thomsen stars as Michael, a devoted husband and father who impulsively signs up for an anti-depressant trial and eventually starts to exhibit increasingly sinister personality changes. There’s not much more to Fear Me Not than that, as screenwriters Levring and Anders Thomas Jensen essentially offer up a character study that suffers from a distinct atmosphere of uneventfulness. It’s hard to deny, however, that the film does improve as it progresses, with Michael’s exceedingly dark behavioral changes virtually transforming the whole thing into a thriller/horror picture (eg he torments his wife by subjecting her to a scalding shower and allowing rats to invade their bedroom). The admittedly impressive twist ending that closes the movie does ensure that it ends on a high note, yet it’s not quite effective enough to allow one to overlook the almost egregiously sluggish opening hour.

** out of ****