For the most part, Sasha is like most teenagers. She is often in conflict with her father and mother and spends most of her time in her room. This is because the first does not have the same conception of the world as the second. Humankind inspires empathy in Sasha, while her parents feel more of an appetite. Because what sets Sasha apart from other young girls is that she is a vampire. But a vampire who refuses to hunt. Awarded in Venice, Humanist vampire seeking consenting suicide turns out to be tasty, and just rare enough.
In fact, this unusual comedy by Ariane Louise-Seize fuses several tones with macabre happiness. Dark, offbeat, absurd humor, not to mention romantic impulses set against a supernatural atmosphere…
The goal is more to amuse than to frighten. So, is there something of a crossover between the series Addams Family (The Addams Family) And What We Do in the Shadows(Vampires in complete privacy) at work within the film’s vampire clan: it’s sinister, but harmless.
What is it all about? Worried about the future of their offspring, Sasha’s parents (who look like a couple of accountants in burnout) one day decide to cut off his finances. Namely: stop providing her with the bags of hospital blood that she drinks through a straw (a delicious find). Dad is the eternal “good cop » (Steve Laplante, marvelous in willful blindness), and mom, the “ bad cop » by default (Sophie Cadieux, splendid with justified annoyance).
Her long hair and bangs evoking the heroine of the unclassifiable A Girl Walks Home Alone at Nightby Ana Lily Amirpour, an experimental vampire film, Sasha wanders the city, hungry but torn.
But here comes Paul out of the night, who wants to put an end to it, but without succeeding. Understanding what Sasha is, Paul agrees to surrender to her, but first, he has a list of last wishes to fulfill. However, Sasha’s traditionalist clan is never far away (including an accidental new member, a showerbag nice but stupid played by a hilarious Gabriel-Antoine Roy).
What happens next isn’t the tightest scenario there is, but the fact is that, throughout the time we spend in the company of the vampire and the chronic depressive, we never stop smiling.
Singular concoction
Indeed, behind the reserve shown by Sasha and Paul, a latent mutual attraction gradually emerges. Sara Montpetit and Félix-Antoine Bénard play this sentimental waltz-hesitation with infinite nuances of unease and fascination. The opposite of the content of the story, their romantic pas de deux is imbued with a marvelous innocence: that of first love.
This is one of the many charms of this unique cinematic concoction. Yes, the influences are there, but the originality lies in the mix. Combining the melancholy (and a similar kind of duet) of Let the Right One Inby Tomas Alfredson, and the funnyness of Karminaby Gabriel Pelletier, Humanist vampire seeking consenting suicide imposes its intentions and, above all, its manner.
We fully understand this Directing Prize awarded in the Giornate degli Autori section of the Mostra, nicknamed Venice Days, and which is the equivalent of the Directors’ Fortnight of the Cannes Festival. The imagination and formal cohesion of Ariane Louis-Seize are as impressive as they are delightful.
Abundance of chiaroscuro bathed in darkness (we cannot overemphasize the brilliance of Shawn Pavlin’s photo direction; The sound of the engines), striking minimalist compositions, expressive angles, completely mastered kitsch aesthetic… Visually, this film is pure delight. And the most surprising thing considering the subject? It’s barely bloody.