User reviews

This movie is a very intense psychological thriller filmed in very grey and depressive images and words that create a perfect atmosphere for this doom slow paced movie. The movie seems to be a simple vengeance story, but it goes far beyond this. Let me warn you first: There are not many torture scenes in this movie, so if you expect some gore stuff here, you may not be satisfied at all in the end. The title and trailer could be somehow misleading.

The film has in fact a very philosophical touch and questions about the sense of life and death as well as vengeance or forgiveness. The movie shows how difficult such topics are and has almost some documentary influences as it shows the reactions of the society, the police, the victim's families. But there are also metaphoric elements in this movie like the scenes with the dead deer body that represents the dead body of the raped and killed daughter that lead us slowly towards a melancholic end that many find unsatisfying but which fits perfectly to the whole atmosphere and intention of the movie. The story is surprisingly realistic. All those points I really like about this great Quebecker movie.

What I rather dislike is that there is something like a highlight missing. When the father has kidnapped the murderer of his daughter and the police is looking for him, you expect that the tension and action raises, that each character's profoundness may be developed and that there are some disturbing twists but nothing happens at all. The movie concentrates on the profoundness of the main character but I think that the characters of the murderer, the police officer or the kidnapper's wife could have been more developed. The movie also concentrates too much on the logical follow-up of the story and the tension goes really down at some point in the movie as there are no real surprises or turning points like in the heavier and more disturbing shocker "5150 on Elm Street", a movie based on the novel by the same author as this one. This movie's strength is its depressive atmosphere and the main actor's brilliant acting but it has too much of a one man show.

If you are looking for an alternative depressive psycho thriller with some philosophical elements, I highly recommend this movie for you. But if you are looking for a bloody shocker with a twisted ending, just forget about it.

I base myself on the fact that i've viewed a lot of horror films and psychological thrillers and the like, this is unlike any i have seen although i did watch a trailer on the DVD when it loaded about a little boy thats abducted and killed and the parents the father being a doctor get revenge 'the torture' although i haven't seen said film yet I'm kinda thinking its gonna be the same thing..

I like the fact there is no soundtrack to this film, i really get a sense of the parents pain and I'm pretty sure if someone did that to my daughter i wouldn't be responsible for my actions either.

Its graphic yet moving and the actors played the roles well.. Honestly cannot complain

When police arrest a man for the rape and murder of Dr. Bruno Hamel's 8-year old daughter, the distraught father (a strong performance from Claude Legault) seeks revenge, kidnapping the suspect and subjecting him to a week of unimaginable suffering while the police desperately attempt to track them down.

Revenge is sweet, as the saying goes, but 7 Days challenges this notion: after inflicting untold pain and suffering on his victim, Bruno doesn't feel any better—he is just as empty inside, his grief no less severe than before, his anger unabated. The film questions whether, despite our understandable wish to severely punish the human garbage who commit such evil crimes, revenge might not be the wisest route to take.

Superb performances, tight direction from Daniel Grou, and some truly disturbing imagery make this film hard to ignore, but it is its highly debatable central theme—to torture or not to torture— that makes 7 Days a more powerful viewing experience than many of the 'torture' films that we've had to endure post-Saw.

Director Daniel Grou shows that he has much promise. First, a film without music is rare, and in this case was perfect. Secondly, the action, while graphic, moves smoothly. It is a story, a film, that you will remember seeing.

The film begins with an unforgivable crime—the rape and murder of a 8- year-old girl by a convicted sex offender. Her father, a wealthy surgeon (Claude Legault), chains the alleged killer in a secluded dungeon, savoring his captive's (Rémy Girard) slow torture.

The doctor, dismissing all he previously stood for, is torn by guilt as he proceeds. It is an excellent chance to reflect on the desirability of revenge. His last statement really drove that home.

Revenge is sweet in 7 Days, a Canadian torture thriller in French when a surgeon's daughter is abducted, raped and killed by a low life criminal named Anthony. The good doctor, Bruno, captures the "suspect" and takes him to an isolated cabin in the woods: and let the games begin for seven days of extreme and inventive pay back.

Bruno calls the police that at the end of one week, he is going kill Anthony after inflicting as much pain as possible, however, the psychopath adapts to his situation and mocks his host for not seeming to enjoy the suffering of his hostage. Tony admits to the murder of the doctors girl, in addition to three others.

Meanwhile, a detective furiously searches for the cabin to stop the execution. This leads to an interesting conclusion; and you will have to decide if justice is served.

"Does knowing your wife's murderer is behind bars make life any more bearable?"

"7 Days" is a powerful and brutal film about a happily married surgeon who as a result of the rape and murder of his daughter falls into a dark obsession with revenge. WARNING: this movie is VERY graphic and not for the easily offended or people with a weak stomach. "7 Days" deals with a very difficult subject matter and does not hold back.

Claude Legault (Bruno) and Rémy Girard (Hervé) did an incredible job with the acting. Fanny Mallette (Sylvia) also did wonderfully, though I would have liked to have seen more of her throughout the movie. I found myself wondering why the director did not feature more of the mother's struggle. There is one scene in particular that showcases the raw talent Legault and Mallette have. It was a tour de force of brilliant acting.

However, the movie is not without it's faults. One of the more interesting decisions made by the director was to not include a musical soundtrack. This worked I think in favor of the atmosphere but there could have been some fill in music at times. It seemed like the director was trying to fill holes in the story a bit too hard. There were a couple of things that didn't make much sense to do and the ending left a little to be desired.

"7 Days" may not be the cream of the crop of revenge flicks, but it does succeed where others fail. It is such a harrowing subject matter and is shot in such a realistic way that you are forced to have an emotional response, whether you like it or not. There are some powerful visuals that will stay with you for days, possibly months after.

GOOD. Brutal thriller/horror on the topic of revenge that aims to cause agony, discomfort, amazement, and perplexity in the audience. It has striking, agonizing, disturbing, and even explicit scenes of nudity and torture. I classify it more as horror than a thriller. Don't watch it if you don't have the stomach for horror films like this. The feeling it gives you is to want the plot to end soon to get rid of the agony. The film has several flaws in logic and some of the situations created by the screenwriter were counter-census forged just merely to support the plot. And that detracted from its quality. However, I give it a high rating because of the objectives already outlined which I identify as fully accomplished. I recommend it.

As I see lots of you loved this movie, but I found it very boring and pretty awful ... really I barely stayed awake to watch it. Is way too static and lost me from second one. Probably its me, and im stupid and dont get it.. but was awful, I DONT KNOW IF NOT TO RECOMMEND IT OR TO LET YOU WATCH IT AND TELL US AFTER IF YOU LIKED IT OR NOT.

This movie is very disturbing, and I am used to violence in movies. In fact, it is not the violence that disturbed me, but rather the very, very tense atmosphere charged with various emotions. It feels so heavy, I am still uneasy, an hour and a half after watching it. Those who have watched Saw or Hostel will find the violence bearable, but this is not a gore movie like these two franchises; it is a psychological film. I believe that knowing these actors very well (not personally) made me biased towards this movie. I am convinced that if the movie would have featured different actors, or perhaps if it wasn't Québécois, I wouldn't be as troubled as I am right now. It is a weird feeling that I cannot really explain.

The movie itself is very well done, technically and artistically. Daniel Grou's direction is near perfect for that kind of movie, expect maybe a few shots which, in my opinion, were unnecessary. The movie has no soundtrack at all; long stills of the character(s) in silence help getting in the mood, help understanding, if that's possible. Which brings me to this point: this is a rather slow movie. It reminds me in many ways of Asian cinema, particularly (some) Japanese movies (maybe Yasujiro Ozu). There is minimal dialogue, but well delivered by the actors and I have to give a mention to Martin Dubreuil, who played Anthony Lemaire. I didn't know him before this movie and he delivers a terribly solid performance here. Claude Legault is also excellent.

All in all, this is a great film. There is one thing I recommend though; do not see this in the theatre, because of the damned food and plastic bags noises. The silences in this movie need to be respected and it is very annoying when you hear someone talk during this movie, even more so because there's no music. Rent it or buy the DVD (Blu-ray?).

This is my first review, I hope it makes sense.

As far as revenge films go, this one is quite good. However it's not brilliant. As with a lot of films with an "out for revenge" plot line. It doesn't stir up the anger that a story of this kind should. The father daughter relationship exposure is incredibly minimal, which to me, defeats the whole point of the story. Because of this, I was left quite desensitised to the main character's quest for revenge. Not even the smugness of the killer leaving court or the scene where they find his daughter's dead body was enough to stir up any amount of anger to approve of what happens next.

Sure I was on the main character's side, but the beginning was not enough for me to will his actions or even justify them. This in turn left me feeling a bit too much of an observer, given the seriousness of the subject matter of this film. By the end of it, the main character to me might as well have been jigsaw, which is a shame, as it clearly isn't meant to come across as such.

How could it possible the parents would allow their underage young daughter to walk out alone to pass around her invitations. Both of the parents, especially the mom, got nothing to do in that specific morning, even the surgeon father was just off a major surgery from the hospital, but still.... Under any normal condition or premise, the girl's mom should accompany her to send out the invitations, that's a common duty of a mother with a elementary school daughter. Then again, we didn't see the daughter leave home with her school backpack or whatever, but then a boy in the same class and same school, returned her satchel to her parents, claiming she didn't attend the school. This two incidents were obviously an unexplainable overlook or careless draft of the screenplay that could and should be corrected by the director from the very beginning. But if without these two stupid arrangements, then the storyline of the scenario simply could be developed to the next level.

By the way, the special effect of the torture scenes are grossly superb and stunning.

Man this was a very depressing, grim, brutal and a very hard watch that will stir your emotions. I thought this dark drama had solid acting and a powerful message but it had a sluggish pace and I didn't agree with the main character's actions to advenge his daughters rape and murder and it's not one of those revenge thrillers that you root for the guy getting revenge, I pretty much felt sorry for both of them. It makes you think what would you do in that situation, what actions would you take if that happened to your child? In the end I can't find anything that I really liked about this film, it just was way too bleak for me and it really didn't bring anything new to this genre and it just brings your mood down big time. Overall there is some torture scenes in this movie that is not for the squeamish but it focuses more on the characters and how they deal with the crime than being that type of film, again more of a drama and judging from some early reviews it's overrated and nothing I will recommend or would want to see again, your're not missing out on anything amazing. DEPRESSING STUFF!!! More of a 2.5 out of 5 stars.

Surgeon Bruno Hamel lives an ordinary suburban life with his wife and daughter Jasmine. Jasmine goes missing and then found brutally raped and murdered. Anthony Lemaire is arrested with undeniable evidence. Bruno drugs the prison transport driver and kidnaps Lemaire. He promises police detective Mercure that he will kill Lemaire in 7 days on Jasmine's birthday. Mercure himself had lost his wife in a convenient store shooting.

There is a quiet brutality about torture but the characters are a little too quiet about it. His inner conflict actually bugged me a little. The villain is an absolute villain. If there is more doubt, it would have made Bruno's hesitation more understandable. I like the other mother character. Overall, the movie has very little tension and it could have been more intense with a few changes.

I expected something in a vein of 'Law Abiding Citizen', but '7 Days' turned out to be a bit deeper. The basic premise is somewhat close: a little girl gets raped and killed and her father captures and tortures her alleged killer for... yeah 7 days.

No one was in doubt, that the guy was a killer, the evidence were conclusive, but Bruno, the protagonist (is he really a protagonist though?) decided that 25 years in prison is too soft a sentence. He takes judgment in his own hands... like literally: being a surgeon he knows how to injure people and make them suffer while keeping them alive. Thou shalt not piss off a surgeon, I guess...

I like how '7 days' does not glorify Bruno's actions at all. The further the torture goes, the more deeper in anger Bruno plunges and the more unlikable he becomes. Remember the scene from 'Law Abiding Citizen', were ripped naked Butler's character gets captured wearing a smug grin? Well, Bruno by the end of the film wears puke covered shirt, while being completely mental and confused. I guess, the moral of the story - revenge bad and no one wins? Not too deep, but at least it's something I can agree with.

The torture scenes might not be entirely medically accurate, but the film isn't focused on that anyway. I like the overall moodiness. The cold colour filter might be a cheap trick, but it works, especially in conjunction with Canadian nature. The cinematography and pacing are fine, gore isn't over the top, but convincing (apart from the chain beating scene), so it makes it for a pretty enjoyable thriller flick. 7 stars for 7 days (yeah, hilarious, I know)

It's definitely an interesting production, but some scenes in the movie were unnecessarily long. It's very boring. Because the story is already very disturbing. You watch many minutes without reaching a certain conclusion.

It's a tense and disturbing film all the way through. I really liked how there's no music in the entire movie. It adds more realism just hearing what's happening at that moment. The coloring and cinematography really helps set that dark mood.

After his young daughter gets raped and killed, a father sets out to revenge her.

Just like in the recent Australian revenge thriller The Horseman, we have another Father who's snapped and is now taking matters into his own hands on account of his little girl's demise. Where that film brought a more in your face, action oriented style, 7 Days bring you a more heady approach that focuses on despair, grief and self-conflict. But that's not to say this one, on any level, is less brutal.

As I hinted at, 7 Days is a story of a Father's vengeance for his 8 year old daughter that was raped and murdered. He masterminds a plan to get the perpetrator alone for 7 Days so he can quell his own flooding emotions. It's a simple story that people across the board can relate to, but only a select few would ever try to tackle; and it shows, as this is no joy-ride for the Father, and his actions against his daughter's killer are eating him up inside.

7 Days is an engrossing film; with it's bleak and unforgiving style, it captured me right from the get go, and didn't let loose until the final scene. And at it's core were the performances by the actors involved, who all did stand-out jobs. But I have to really commend the man who played the murderer, Martin Dubreuil. He did an amazing job as a man going through a smörgåsbord of pain and mental battles. One scene in particular, where himself and our lead (Claude Legault) had a face to face; it literally had my breath at a stand-still.

I was not expecting to enjoy this film as much I did. I'm super hit or miss with any film that has torture in it; as I think most people are. I feel like I've seen every single one as well; from the mainstream Hostels to the cheap and ugly, Scrapbook, to the overly ridiculous and vile, The Butcher. And as a whole, the sub-genre is pretty weak. But when torture is used as a secondary outfit in a movie, instead of the go to ploy, then I feel, there's hope for the sub-genre. This movie first and foremost delivers a story that thrusts you into the Father's shoes, and urges you to relate through either simple but affective symbolism, affective and violent outbursts, or scenes of pain-staking solitude. And also adding in a sub-plot with a hardened but sensitive detective that's trying to stop our protagonist, the film only intensifies.

7 Days is a graphic, intimate and emotional film that tells the story of questionable actions from the side you're supposed to be caring for. As the man descends deeper into vengeance he'll quickly reach a fine line that may be impossible to turn back from. You take this journey with him, not knowing which way he'll go.

He's a surgeon who has a daughter that is raped and murdered. But how he decides to deal with his pain and desire for retribution is hard to watch. Not for the weak stomached.

This movie reminds me of the American 2012 flick Daddy's Little Girl, and the classic Antichrist. Acting, picture quality, this movie is way stronger then Daddy's Little Girl. However, this movie is pretty tame. Minus the surgery scene, most of this movie is pretty tame.

I can tell you that while watching this i was pretty sleepy, not because the movie was bad, because i was just sleepy, which is my fault. However, what's here is pretty good. However, i kinda wish we had a bit more character build up, but then again, this movie is a mimic of Antichrist, so it's following our main characters suffering.

There is a lot of padding in this movie, like the deer scenes. That has nothing to do with the movie itself, and it seems directly taken from Antichrist, it's just there for the sake fo being there. I think this movie could of been tripped about 10-20 minutes. But still what's here is still pretty good. I just wish that the deer scenes were not here, and i wish that we had a bit more gorier scenes.

Ultimately, if you are into stuff as: Daddys Little Girl, Antichrist, Chained, Guinea Pig, Grotesque, The Butcher. You'll probably enjoy this one.

I went into this completely blind and it was pretty good. Also there's a hidden gem in this movie, in the 6th day which spins the movie into a moral question.

I could only give this movie a 5 out of 10 because my conscience is wrestling with my appreciation. On the one hand, I would only give this move a 10 for acting and direction, however, my judgement would only give it a 1 if it requires a sick, disgusting movie to ignite peoples sense of morality.

Never in my life have I seen such a disturbing movie. This is a messed up script and an unsettling statement about the nature of humanity. In the very first scene, I was so disturbed that my head was spinning. I thought her corpse looked extremely realistic. Then, the torture scenes were more than I could handle. I shut this movie off after only 45 minutes. What kind of monsters are we that we feel we need to make such things?

To all the men out there who are so angry that they say they would do the same thing if ever this happened to their daughter, I say, be careful. As the truth states, "The things we dislike most in others are the characteristics we like least in ourselves." Men hate immoral sexual acts, because deep down, they know they have the capability of doing the same things. Hating on other men is just a manifestation of hating themselves. Both immoral sexual acts and extreme violence (as retribution) are totally unacceptable. I hope that this movie makes that clear to everyone.

"Les 7 jours du talion" (2010) is another notable example of the movement known as "New French Extremity", and although it is less violent compared to the great classics of this style, it manages to convey pure horror through its realistic approach.

Although the plot may seem simple at first glance, the narrative engages the viewer through doubt and tension, building an atmosphere that instills a feeling of anguish throughout the film. The work addresses the theme of revenge and justice in a mature, realistic and reflective way, stimulating ethical debates while presenting scenes of torture with practical effects and extremely convincing makeup. The cast delivers exceptional performances, with emphasis on Claude Legault as the protagonist and Martin Dubreuil as the antagonist. The photography, marked by gray tones and dark colors, perfectly complements the dense atmosphere of the narrative.

Despite the apparent simplicity of its plot and the absence of major twists, the film manages to explore the theme of revenge in a visceral and pragmatic way, providing a unique and distinct experience in relation to several other horror films that follow the same theme. "Les 7 jours du talion" is a true hidden gem that certainly deserved more recognition and attention.