This is not one for the faint-hearted. With a beginning which summarises Noë's 1991 short film, 'Carne', Seul Contre Tous continues the story of the horse-meat butcher, after he has left Paris with his pregnant mistress in search of a fresh start. Things look bleak straight away, as he patently hates his mistress, the small town they are in, the fact that he had to leave his 15 year old mute daughter in a home, and the fact that he has lost everything he worked for for 35 years.

There is no respite from the grimness, either. This is a hard-hitting and intensely disturbing depiction of one man sinking fast in a society that doesn't care. France in 1980 is crumbling: unemployment is rife, the walls of the city are covered in racist slogans, all the people in the film are tired, old, or infirm. The style of the film is similar to 'Carne', with a profusion of reds and yellows, and silent cinema type screens telling the viewer the time and the place, but any sensation of calm is constantly disrupted by scene changes accompanied by what sound like shots. Guns are the ultimate phallic symbol in this film; once again, Noë delves deeply into the connections between sex and death.

There is plenty of violence, anger, hatred and frustrated and warped sexual desire coming from the butcher (Nahon), and we are privy to his every thought as he becomes more and more convinced that he is the ultimate victim.