MovieChat Forums > Seul contre tous (1999) Discussion > A few posts here saying the Butcher was ...

A few posts here saying the Butcher was a coward, how so?

posted 10 years ago by MonsterOfTheMiramichi
2 replies | jump to latest

To elaborate a bit more, I've read some posts commenting on the butcher's internal monologue being constantly belligerent and domineering but that he backed down whenever confronted. How so? He attacks his mistress when she berates him, he questions the guy in the bar who mocks him for not having enough money for his drink, and then when the barman points a shotgun in his face, he slowly walks out the door (doing this doesn't make you a coward, it makes you not retarded, unless you want a face full of shot cartridge) and proceeds to go back to his flat, get his own gun and return to confront the patrons. I wouldn't say he was a coward, hes a complete nut.

[–] ss336 10 years ago

The same people who think he's a coward think he's a "loser". They're looking at him from the wrong cultural angle and ignoring the part he plays as warrior-on-the-cusp-of-the-end-of-industrialism in France. He has a mix of old French moral principles and natural law, as well as the values of working class masculinity. He tries to protect his daughter and murders the guy. The wrong guy. He does time, he gets out and tries to have an ordinary life. He fails but not through want of trying. He looks around, casts a lot of blame on various people, etc. He's basically a loose canon who can't handle all of these consequences, some of them self-inflicted and some not, until he reaches a kind of sublime satisfaction in an incestuous deal with his daughter. It's as if she rewards his sacrifice. This movie doesn't have anything to do with cowardice or courage.

[–] Strazdamonas 9 years ago

I think these people mix up frustration with cowardice. The Butcher was Frustrated and confused. This has lead to his inaction, which people that could not identify with the frustration took for cowardice. For example him being afraid to stand up for himself to the matron, him not going through with his plan.

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