‘At your age your body is changing and weakening…’
There is nothing more tiresome than the pervasive meme that portrays cinephiles as only liking obscure cinema and then giving an example of a six-hour Albanian language documentary about sheep farmers (or something of the like). I would say the majority of film fans are more likely to evoke The Godfather than Jeanne Dielman, and the meme itself speaks of an inherent lack of curiosity and fear of being challenged in any way. But then, I watch something like Evolution, and I can’t for the life of me understand how anyone could actively enjoy the experience of watching this film…
Nicolas (Max Brebant) is a small boy who lives in a sea-side town in which the only residents are women and young boys. One day, he finds a corpse in the ocean and runs home to tell his mother (Julie-Marie Parmentier) who dismisses his claim. Nicolas is then taken to hospital where all kinds of weird shit goes off, but he is navigated through this experience by a kindly nurse (Roxane Duran).
I don’t just want to just shit on this movie as there is a clear aesthetic vision here that deserves recognition. Writer-director Lucile Hadzihalilovic conjures up some stark and memorable imagery – the women of the town writhing around in the nude by moonlight, a boy floating in a water tank – and the mood and tone are consistent and often suitably ominous, but that’s all there is here. There is the hint of an interesting plot, but it’s cloaked in subtext and hindered by a lack of exposition. I don’t need everything to be explained, but there is too much ambiguity here for my money, and a lack of characterisation that renders the whole thing a little inert and difficult to connect with.
I’m afraid I must cut to the chase. Evolution looks pretty but even at less than 90 minutes, the film is a drag. It’s dull is what I’m saying. I’m all for a slow burn but there must be a pay off at the end of it. I’ll never think of it again.
