ELSE (2024; France-Belgium) D: Thibault Emin
09-10-24 | 08:13 PM
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ELSE (2024; France-Belgium) D: Thibault Emin
Planting this here for now as I think this one might generate at least a little discussion if other folks are able to see it down the road. 
ELSE is a French-Belgian body-horror chamber film with a massive evolutionary bent, about a recent hook-up-turned-couple – introvert Matthieu Sampeur and flighty one-night-stand Edith Proust – forced to cohabitate in his small apartment when a strange virus forces the world's population into lockdown. At first, it seems like just another disease the planet will eventually recover from – a group of neighbours are heard joyously counting down to the quarantine and the end of their freedom — until it becomes apparent that people (and basically all lifeforms) are merging into their surroundings if they stay sedentary and the entire planet and everything on it is undergoing a seismic evolution. This was made on a modest budget but the practical and digital effects are both abundant and exceptional as the film goes on (and possibly trippy, if that's your thing). It's almost entirely filmed within the confines of the couple's apartment as the world outside and inside permanently goes to shit, with brief but increasingly opaque views out the windows, communication through the vents with unseen neighbours (whose vocal cadences change ominously through subsequent interactions), snippets of newscasts and internet articles before the power runs out, a brief appearance of some military men at the door, and a couple of drones seen late in the film after characters venture out to escape the interior warping of the building. Basically, this is an apocalyptic tale told from a personal, romantic perspective of the two central characters.
Director and co-writer Thibault Emin made three short films between 2006 and 2008 and the middle one, also called ELSE, is the basis for this version 17 years later, and it's an impressive feature debut, one of those arthouse science-fiction movies where you sense the director's influences vaguely because they're not plastered verbatim on the screen, and he delivers something largely unique and self-contained, with a big idea at it's core. In the Q&A below, which doesn't really hold any serious spoilers, Emin mentions some of the films and filmmakers who inspired him. Shinya Tsukamoto was one who crossed my mind by the film's conclusion, and Emin confirmed that along with some other picks both surprising and not (those might count as spoilers in the Q&A, so maybe save that for after?) but again there's little direct appropriation beyond some vibes and ELSE unfolds at its own pace and builds its own unique world, literally. In fact, the only aspect I didn't fully latch onto was the relationship between the couple (both played by actors apparently known more for their stage work than film roles), but that was largely because their relationship – while really well played in all of its awkwardness – isn't one that I'd find appealing in real life, but that's on me and your mileage will vary. This felt like the kind of tale you might have read sans dialogue in a magazine like Heavy Metal back in the day, and I'm seriously keen to see what this guy can do with a larger budget if he goes that route, or even if he decides to revisits the world of this film.
TIFF Trailer:
TIFF Intro and Q&A. One note: Emin might seem a bit eccentric in the opening, but he comes off as a really genuine guy in the Q&A :
ELSE is a French-Belgian body-horror chamber film with a massive evolutionary bent, about a recent hook-up-turned-couple – introvert Matthieu Sampeur and flighty one-night-stand Edith Proust – forced to cohabitate in his small apartment when a strange virus forces the world's population into lockdown. At first, it seems like just another disease the planet will eventually recover from – a group of neighbours are heard joyously counting down to the quarantine and the end of their freedom — until it becomes apparent that people (and basically all lifeforms) are merging into their surroundings if they stay sedentary and the entire planet and everything on it is undergoing a seismic evolution. This was made on a modest budget but the practical and digital effects are both abundant and exceptional as the film goes on (and possibly trippy, if that's your thing). It's almost entirely filmed within the confines of the couple's apartment as the world outside and inside permanently goes to shit, with brief but increasingly opaque views out the windows, communication through the vents with unseen neighbours (whose vocal cadences change ominously through subsequent interactions), snippets of newscasts and internet articles before the power runs out, a brief appearance of some military men at the door, and a couple of drones seen late in the film after characters venture out to escape the interior warping of the building. Basically, this is an apocalyptic tale told from a personal, romantic perspective of the two central characters.
Director and co-writer Thibault Emin made three short films between 2006 and 2008 and the middle one, also called ELSE, is the basis for this version 17 years later, and it's an impressive feature debut, one of those arthouse science-fiction movies where you sense the director's influences vaguely because they're not plastered verbatim on the screen, and he delivers something largely unique and self-contained, with a big idea at it's core. In the Q&A below, which doesn't really hold any serious spoilers, Emin mentions some of the films and filmmakers who inspired him. Shinya Tsukamoto was one who crossed my mind by the film's conclusion, and Emin confirmed that along with some other picks both surprising and not (those might count as spoilers in the Q&A, so maybe save that for after?) but again there's little direct appropriation beyond some vibes and ELSE unfolds at its own pace and builds its own unique world, literally. In fact, the only aspect I didn't fully latch onto was the relationship between the couple (both played by actors apparently known more for their stage work than film roles), but that was largely because their relationship – while really well played in all of its awkwardness – isn't one that I'd find appealing in real life, but that's on me and your mileage will vary. This felt like the kind of tale you might have read sans dialogue in a magazine like Heavy Metal back in the day, and I'm seriously keen to see what this guy can do with a larger budget if he goes that route, or even if he decides to revisits the world of this film.
TIFF Trailer:
TIFF Intro and Q&A. One note: Emin might seem a bit eccentric in the opening, but he comes off as a really genuine guy in the Q&A
:Last edited by Brian T; 09-10-24 at 08:30 PM.
