Criticism: Evaluation – Cineuropa
– Fleur Fortuné’s first feature film, in which Alicia Vikander is very wonderful, is a sadomasochistic offering of culottes, and also very charming, because she is charming.
This article is available in English.
The footage, captured by drone, shows a young girl swimming in the deep blue sea. In the distance, from the distant rocks, her mother waves to her, calling her – the girl begins to swim frantically (is she drowning?) and lowers her head down. When she appears, suddenly now she Elizabeth Olsensticking his head above the surface. She emerges from the water and heads through the arid, brown, lifeless landscape towards home: her home, where she is greeted by a disembodied voice assistant. V Fleur Fortunedebut feature film, Gradeboasts a script Mrs and Mr Thomas (team of authors Neil Garfat-Cox And David Thomas) And John Donnellywe will never truly return to the fascination of this mysterious discovery. But its threads are unraveled and picked up again throughout the film, which had its world premiere as part of the Special Presentations program at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival.
Meet the gorgeous couple Aryan (Himesh Patel) and Mia (Olsen), the former a designer of virtual pets (we learn that the government previously mandated the complete extermination of real pets) and the latter a sentimental, wide-eyed botanist whose safe haven is her private greenhouse. In this (brave) new world of everything left after two global climate and population catastrophes, the state legally grants first-time parents the right to a child through extrauterine pregnancy solely through a thorough seven-day assessment. So we meet Virginia (an amazing and joyfully perverted girl). Alicia Vikander), Aaryan and Mia’s quirky expert who appears in a blue and white robe-like outfit and baby white stockings. Her first request is to change the guest room to the couple’s bedroom. What happens in the next seven days should really be seen, not read.
From the first minutes of the film there is a heavy choral score Emily Levienez-Farouche at once eerie and transcendent, foreshadowing the Sisyphean tasks ahead—especially Mia, who meritocratically strives to pass the increasingly counterintuitive test Virginia sets up for them, which involves role-play and constant observation. production designer Jan Ulwig goes to great lengths to create a deeply alienating, color-blocked domestic environment that doesn’t rely solely on the sterile blue-gray archetypal dystopian worlds. Instead, the couple lives in a house filled with Mondrian-style stained glass windows and a 1970s-style pergola by the ocean. costume designer Sarah Blenkinsop complements this by playing with geometry while keeping the palette neutral, with Mia opting for no bra and more flowy clothing, while Aaryan takes a more conservative approach.
Looking too closely at the script reveals holes that shouldn’t be explored, while trying to extract coherent commentary from the film on the climate crisis, the biopolitically authoritarian state, or the not-so-subtly disguised eugenic practices is surely an exercise in futility. Some moments are included just for shock value, but that doesn’t make them any less amazing, especially among this trio of actors. Where the speculative elements fail, the rest goes big: Grade shines most existentially by narratively exploring concepts like free will and rationality versus absurdism, rather than what we should (or shouldn’t) do when the world as we know it goes to hell.
GradeThe film’s components are never definitively shocking: there are no overt visual effects or violence, and no truly exciting cinematic moments. Instead, it’s the combo that ties it all together: Fortuné’s twisted little psychosexual thriller, made possible in large part by the multifaceted Vikander, who will have fans of emotional sadomasochism on screen shuddering and giggling long after the film is over. .
Grade is a UK, German and US co-production between Number 9 Films, ShivHans Pictures, Tiki Tāne Pictures, augenschein Filmproduktion and Project Infinity. WME Independent handles global sales.