It is well said that the first scene, if not the first image, largely defines a film. the five devils -We will tell what we understood that this film owes its title Adele Exarchopoulos-, in that beginning, presages much of what will be seen.
French director Léa Mysius (her film ava was at the Critics’ Week in Cannes in 2017) chooses to show Adèle Exarchopoulos from behind. The actress of Adele ‘s life (Palme d’Or al cannes film festival ten years ago) has a shiny gymnast dress. But she is not alone. Other young women accompany her and they all look at a huge fire. When Joanne turns around, we see that she is crying.
In that first image, we said, there are many of the elements that will be developed in the plot the five devils: passion and presumed death, fueled by fire and beauty.
But then Joanne won’t seem so vulnerable. That scene at the beginning is not in the present, we’ll see, but in the past. The present tense has Joanne giving a water aerobics class to the women in the pool. Whatever happened to that fire, Joanne’s life is seemingly different. She is in a relationship with a man from Senegal, with whom she has a daughter.
And Vicky (Sally Dramé, a real discovery) is one of the central axes of the film.
A gift, or a power
Vicky has, shall we say, a strange gift, or power. See things from the past. Perhaps we see the scene of the fire through her eyes.
It does not matter. Vicky has a very good relationship with her mother, who she accompanies in a strange ritual. After class, Joanne likes to go to the lake and swim. It doesn’t matter if she’s incredibly cold. Vicky helps her anoint her body with buttermilk, there, so close to the Alps, to help her body retain heat. Sure: after 20 minutes she has to whistle and warn her mother that she has reached the limit that Joanne has set herself and allows.
Such an enjoyable life with Vicky would not have its counterpart with her husband, Jimmy (Moustapha Mbengue). Her father (Patrick Bouchitey) asks her bluntly if she hasn’t had sex with him yet. What’s more, at home Vicky spends her time preparing at least strange concoctions.
When Joanne learns that her daughter has an amazing sense of smell, she’s already worried about something else. Julia (Swala Emati), her husband’s sister, has come to stay.
Like in that movie Abdellatif Kechiche, Adèle Exarchopoulos plays a lesbian woman. Yes: Joanne married Julia’s brother after Julia disappeared. Bah, she was actually locked up by that fire in the beginning, all those years ago. And now she seeks refuge in the home of her brother and her former lover.
Love and desire appear as inexplicable forces. How they are in real life.
The director relies on her cinematographer Paul Guilhaume to use a contrasting color palette and contrast these five characters (to those mentioned, add Nadine, played by Daphné Patakia, Bartolomea in Blessed), the five devils of a sometimes captivating, when not disconcerting fiction.
“The Five Devils”
Well
Drama/Fantasy. France, 2022. Original title: “The Five Devils”. 103′, SAM 13 R. From: Read Misio. With: Adèle Exarchopoulos, Sally Dramé, Swala Emati, Moustapha Mbengue. Rooms: Cinépolis Recoleta, Cinemark Palermo, Showcase Belgrano and Norte.
Source: Clarin
