Or Vincent doit mourir in the original Frnech.

IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes classify this as a comedy, but Letterbox’d doesn’t. Here we are anyhow.

Spoilers.

Vincent is one of those typical movie people, who have a creative office job (because filmmakers can’t apparently imagine much beyond this). One day an intern just attacks him. There’s no explanation. Next day one of the people from accounting does the same. Soon, these are not isolated incidents as everyone, including children, try to kill him. After leaving Paris to escape all this, he finds out that he is not alone. There is a secretive community of people in a similar situation.

Is this a comedy? Sure, in the early stages it tries to make light of the situation a little bit, but as the movie moves on, it becomes darker and darker and the comedic elements fall away. This is pretty common, but this one feels kind of different. Even the comedic stuff isn’t that comedic and where we are going is just so much worse. Even early on Vincent is attacked by two kids he knows, who he has to fight off. This isn’t some moment of stylized violence, but a real moment where a grown-up man has to punch his way out of the situation. You could argue this is so absurd that it is funny in itself, but I guess that’s up to you.

Near the end, all of this gets outright harrowing. People start to lose control and it’s not just a few isolated victims anymore. Vincent himself tries to kill his new girlfriend at one point. The whole thing seems to be some kind of a quickly spreading disease, but there is no cure. They can only learn to live with it.

It’s kind of a love story despite everything. Of course, the movie is trying to say something, but what exactly. Here’s a quote from the director (from a EuroNews interview):

That’s why it’s important to me that I don’t have a message. Films with messages and lessons to give irritate me. There are religions for that!

So, the director is a moron. Of course everything has a message. Even not wanting messages is a message in itself. And why would you encourage people to go to religions to find messages and lessons? What the fuck is wrong with this guy? Before this quote he explains how the world is violent in complex ways we don’t necessarily understand, meaning that we force our own wills on others. That is a fucking message. Does he hate his own movie?

Another thing mentioned in the interview is of course covid-19, which in it’s way led to isolation for many people and is still affecting us as a society, even if we are trying to keep quiet about it in the name of economy. There’s another message right there.

Anyhow, the director did manage to stumble on a decent movie. It’s somewhat too long and could have been streamlined quite a bit, but it does work.