Synopsis

Julien, a young man living with schizophrenia, struggles to function within a deeply troubled family. His fragile bond with his pregnant sister offers brief moments of tenderness, while his abusive father subjects the household to increasingly humiliating rituals. Told through fragmented images, improvised scenes, and unstable video textures, the film presents Julien's inner world as unsettling, chaotic, and unexpectedly compassionate.

Factoids & Trivia

• The film was the first American production made under the Dogme 95 filmmaking rules and was designated Dogme #6.

• It was shot on MiniDV with a Canon XL-1 camera. The digital footage was later transferred to 16mm and enlarged to 35mm for theatrical presentation, creating its deliberately rough, grainy appearance.

• Much of the dialogue was improvised. The production also used hidden cameras in some scenes, allowing uninformed bystanders to react naturally to the action.

• The film incorporates stop-motion photography, still images, parallel editing, and abrupt shifts in visual texture rather than maintaining a conventional photographic style.

• Despite breaking some Dogme restrictions, including rules concerning hidden cameras, non-diegetic music, and directorial credit, the film was accepted by the Dogme 95 group.

• The production's reported budget of approximately $1.5 million was largely spent on travel, work visas, and post-production in Denmark.

• Its use of low-resolution digital video helped establish the format as a tool for expressive, feature-length filmmaking rather than merely an inexpensive substitute for film.