I went into this film, just purely out of luck. I had a space free, and this film seemed the best out of the bunch in that timeslot. Luck was on my side this time, as Cages is a truly fantastic Belgium film, and is up there in my list of favourite films so far at the festival. The film opens by introducing Eve and Damien – two people who are obviously both passionately in love. Eve is a ambulance medic, who spends her work hours saving lives. Damien runs an unusual pub called The Zoo, where they host an annual content for the best animal noise. Their world is turned completely up-side-down when Eve is involved in an accident whilst at work, which results in her loosing her ability to speak. The silence soon becomes too much for Damien, and their relationship is seriously put to the test. He starts secretly seeing someone else. When their relationship is on the verge of suffocation, Eve takes drastic action, and in desperation to hang onto Damien she takes him prisoner – locking him up in his own home. This is an absolute thriller of a film, with some many things that are just completely unexpected. When the film looks as if it’s heading in one direction, it quickly surprises you and heads off somewhere else. From the moment the film starts, I feel in love with Eve. I think it was something about her eyes. She’s an amazing actor; her ability to say so much with no auditable words is truly incredible. The actor who played Damien was also spot on, although you can’t help but to feel strongly against his character as Eve is clearly the “good guy” despite her shady methods. This is also a really bizarre film – the animal mimicking show is seriously out there. The cinematography is fantastic – especially during these scenes. Some of the crane/helicopter shots of Eve and Damien on the hill overlooking the ocean are also breathtaking. The sound design was marvellous and did a great job and manipulating the audience’s perceptions. The blend between musical score, sound effects and live action was also incredible. I really loved the audio in one of the opening scenes, when the music suddenly dissipated, to reveal the sound of Eve performing CPR. The transition was great. I really enjoyed this film but there were some uncomfortable scenes – at one stage Eve pretty much rapes her husband, which seriously pushes her “good guy” status. This film was completely not what I expected – even when I was watching it, I kept thinking I had it all figured out, only to be proven seriously wrong. I find it really hard to fault this film. It’s an incredibly unique film, with a great script, executed perfectly.