Starring: Lou-Andreas Robert, Léo Simonot, Edith Baldy
Director: Théodore Tomasz
Country: France
UK Distributor: TLA Releasing
Evan (Robert) is on his way to a beauty spot in the middle of the night. Suicidal, he intends to kill himself there, but when his car breaks down on a bridge en route, he is stopped from jumping from it instead by the enigmatic young Léo (Simonot), who was just passing by. In place of talking him out of it, this stranger agrees to drive him to his intended destination but as they embark on their first and final road-trip together, Evan embarks on an expedition of self-discovery along the way.
Like all good road-trip movies, the journey itself is a metaphor for the personal journey the characters go through. This isn’t just a case of transporting someone from A to B as Léo makes numerous stops along the way, where they encounter a clutch of disparate characters and Evan is reminded of the joys of life that exist beyond his bubble of depressed self-reflection. Together they ruminate on the traumas of the past, both recent and historic, while reawakening Evan’s curiosity and excitement about the possibility of the unknown.
While its episodic encounters on the trip compliment the overall narrative, they do feel like they’ve been lifted directly from the “Road-Trip Move Playbook”, where lost souls only encounter other lost souls along the way. And while this whole film takes place over the course a single night, you have to wonder how the boys manage to squeeze in so many locations and so many rendezvous within the hours of darkness of one summer evening. Add to that the actors’ only vague chemistry and the result is a road-trip that’s certainly no Thelma And Louise.
Thoughtful and contemplative, this is an atmospheric drama that examines the joys of being alive, but as a romance it asks us to back away from the edge but doesn’t quite convince us why.
UK Release: Out now to stream on Dekkoo, released by TLA Releasing
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