Set in a region of Antwerp with a dark Medieval past, the mood of this flick is one of which the sun would not rather spill its radiance upon, instead hiding behind of wall of cloudy gloom, infinitely waiting for the darkness below to pass such that it can make its tardy appearance. It has been a long wait, and this flick offers no reprieve. Instead, this tale is of the seedy underbelly of ineffable undertakings, and our heroine must learn first hand of that which is best left on the other side. Eline Kuppens does just that in her commendable debut, laudably including enough skin to impress a taxidermist. This atmospheric horror from Belgium, a place not known for great horror, is the exception to its usually mediocrity, crafting stories of past times into a sweet little cringer. Maybe this country, known more for its border intrusive neighbors, is set upon changing its stale cinematic presence. Whether the exception or the vanguard, Left Bank is an unusual treat from an even more unusual source. Merci beaucoup.

Genruk of Evil Eye Reviews

I'm an American w/ some familiarity w/ Antwerp and I enjoyed seeing it on film. The influence of Rosemary's Baby is obvious. While this is not in the same league, it does have some things going for it: good photography and music and 2 good leads: Schoenaerts and Eline Kuppens. (I'm not sure how good Schoenaerts is but he's nude 5 minutes after it begins so I can forgive a lot.) Probably the weak link here is the screenplay. The ending makes no sense whatsoever but getting there was enjoyable enough that I didn't much care. Atmospherics, mood, that kind of thing can be incredibly important in a film and Left Bank is quite good in the mood department. It helps too, of course, that the film is anchored by 2 strong performances.

The synopsis for 'Left Bank' sounded interesting to me, and with my intentions to start watching more European films I decided to give this one a go. Unfortunately the synopsis, while ultimately accurate, isn't really a good indication of what the film is like. The problem for me was that the main character 'Marie' didn't really know that anything was amiss - and so there was no mystery. If she's not solving a mystery, how can we be?

I also found the film quite dull for large parts through the middle. The characters were so bland that couldn't carry anything, and all that was left was the story. There was a little bit of intrigue in that respect, but not enough. This is a very sexual film. Some very explicit sex scenes and a lot of nudity.

I don't even know really how I'd describe this film to someone. It's a hard film to put in a genre. Because ultimately it's intended as a horror, but when you think back on it there isn't a lot to actually support that. Whatever it falls into though one thing's for sure - I won't remember this film a week from now.