Contamination (2013) Online

A young woman lives in her apartment terrified of germs and contamination. She is supported by a friend who brings her food and tries to help her connect to the outside world again, but so far without success.

Reading about this film it seems that the lead actress was acknowledged or awarded in some way for her performance, and this seems perfectly reasonable. As someone in front of a camera and small crew, she does give a brave and committed performance as someone suffering with this condition, unable to accept small things and compulsively cleaning and controlling everything for fear of perceived contamination. In scenes of freakouts and being overwhelmed, she is convincing and a little frightening. It is a shame then that the film itself doesn't do more to build around this and perhaps come up with more of an engaging narrative for her to work within.

Okay there is a little bit of plot, and there is a certain amount of the journey for the viewer to go on with her, but mostly it seems the film is so taken by the performance that it is happy just to let her be this character in a handful of key scenes. This does leave the film rather stale and stiff, even if it gives her the chance to show she is not afraid to put her all into the scene – end result though is a performance looking for a film; much as I was too.