One drunken evening, Pierre, an explorer writer, fell several stories high. This accident plunges him into a deep coma. On his hospital bed, back to life, he made the promise to cross France on foot, from Mercantour to Cotentin. A unique and timeless journey to encounter hyper-rurality, the beauty of France and the rebirth of oneself.
This free adaptation of the autobiographical story that the writer Sylvain Tesson published in 2016 is one of those works whose appreciation depends entirely on the viewer’s state of mind. Visibly, On the dark paths struck a chord with the French. More than a million of them showed up in cinemas, making a surprise success of this contemplative film, built around the story of a man trying to rebuild himself in solitude.
Directed by Denis Imbert (vicky, Mystery), On the dark paths focuses above all on the inner adventure of a broken individual, who tries to repair himself in a natural setting that is both sad and spectacular. By deciding to cross France on foot from Mercantour, in the south-east of the country, to Cotentin, in the north-west, Pierre (Jean Dujardin) thus has the opportunity to cross grandiose landscapes, but also to come face to face with the harsh reality in which the rurality we are deserting is now plunged.
In a role that is not very obvious to play, Jean Dujardin very well evokes the inner torment inhabiting his character, despite a voice-over narration that is sometimes too intrusive, set with somewhat hollow formulas. Denis Imbert also punctuates his story with flashbacks – at superfluous moments – to explain where this man who, at 50, promised himself to give himself a second chance after coming out of a deep coma.
In this slow-paced film, some will immediately identify with the protagonist and will see in this story a pretext for meditation or inner introspection; others will find the whole thing a bit sluggish. But in a context of general tumult, a feature film which, beyond its qualities and its faults, gives the opportunity to rest a little will do good to the spectators who will accept the nature of the journey.
Indoors
Drama
On the dark paths
Denis Imbert
With Jean Dujardin, Joséphine Japy, Izïa Higelin
1:34