Program Note
Maldoror begins with a tense arrest situation. When two young girls go missing, Paul, a young police recruit, is assigned to ‘Maldoror’. This secret unit has been set up to monitor a dangerous sex offender. However, the operation is thwarted, and enraged by the police's passive and indifferent response, Paul pursues the culprit independently, uncovering a far larger conspiracy and secret behind the child abduction cases. Inspired by the real-life case of Marc Dutroux, a Belgian serial killer and child molester, this film exposes bureaucratic ineptitude and state powerlessness while portraying the anger and obsession of an individual resisting the system. Fabrice Du Welz harshly depicts the process of how a person’s life becomes consumed and destroyed, approaching a crime world reminiscent of 1970s American cinema. This world, woven with multilayered criminal puzzles and moral dilemmas, drives a human being to the brink of destruction. (KIM Byeonggyu)