Film rating: 3/5 (The Editor); 4/5 (J, The)
Walkouts: 0/5
Pretentious clapping at credits: 0.5/5
BPM sighting: No

The result of a remarkable experiment, 9 Square Meters for Two was written and performed by actual inmates of Baumettes Prison in Marseille, France. Essentially, these 10 men, who were merely trained in the technical aspects of camerawork and then encouraged to let their creativity run wild, became the actors and directors of their own tumultuous, though enclosed, lives by taking part in this ongoing prison program.

A purpose-built set was erected within the penitentiary’s walls to the actual size of a standard cell (nine square meters) so to assist them in differentiating between real and imaginary situations. We never know how they came to be locked behind bars – and they don’t necessarily look like criminals – but we are provided with a very clear, and often startlingly, cinematic window into the individual frustrations, loneliness, indifference, confrontations and claustrophobia that cloud their daily existence.

The Editor says: Besides running about 15-20 minutes too long this film was a fascinating and engrossing insight into prison life beyond the standard prison film cliches. The end product of this truly fascinating filmmaking experiment is a credit to the creativity of the inmates who wrote, shot and starred in the film. Although filmed on a fake cell set, 9 Square Metres For Two successfully blurs the line between reality and fiction.

J, The says: I agree with Ed that this film went a bit too long but despite that was a really intriguing film. It showed me stuff I will never (I hope) otherwise gain insight into - life inside a grotty, nasty little cell with one other person and no way out. I get cabin fever if I sit at my desk for more than two hours; now I have seen this film, I can just begin to imagine what it must be like to be stuck inside for hours on end, and years on end in the larger prison complex. I really liked the way the film opened, with the prisoners’ close-up shots of their walls and interiors, giving you a strong sense of how cramped everything in there was. And the characters were very engaging. People always sound like philosophers when they speak in French, even if they are simply describing the pictures on the walls. Or maybe it was the whole incarceration experience that made these guys sound like that. Hmm. Maybe both.