"I don't want to see you again. To preclude cruel encounters, I propose the following: I'll take Central America, east of St. Lawrence Blvd., India, New York, and Byblos. I'll leave you the rest of the planet. That seems fair."
Denis Villeneuve's first film felt a little less than fully cohesive, but ultimately its quirkiness and ambiguity won me over. On the positive side, it has surreal elements, a gorgeous use of the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, and bittersweet touches of a love story between two friends. It's also got scenes which showed a real flair, such as the confined, white interior of the 'Space Hotel' at the airport, which was a nice parallel to the seemingly endless, blinding salt flats. On the negative side, some of the moments in the film are held too long, unsupported by meaningful dialogue, and suspicious character motivations make the sequence of events in the story questionable, at least if taken literally.
There are many things which defy reason and leave the film open to interpretation, starting with most of the action occurring on days which go from August 32 to August 36 before jumping to September 5 and September 9 near the end. After falling asleep at the wheel and overturning her car, a disoriented young woman (Pascale Bussières) wanders through a thick field and sees two different vehicles, which is never explained. Later, feeling an existential crisis over the incident, she asks her best friend (Alexis Martin) to impregnate her despite his relationship with another woman, and he reluctantly accepts provided that they do it in the desert. Without asking a single question for this absurd condition, she immediately books a flight to the nearest desert in Utah. What? The two take a taxi out to the Bonneville Salt Flats, running afoul of the cabbie who reads a book called 'The Extraterrestrials' when he isn't trying to extort money from them. Left alone in the desert in the middle of the day for hours without water and forced to walk back, they don't suffer physically at all, and in fact find time for a silly argument before she comes across a charred corpse, which is also never explained.
One of the obvious interpretations is that all of these events on non-existent days are in her mind following the accident, with some flashes of reality, such as the moment they were hiking on a hilltop and parted enigmatically, or when he was beaten into a coma by young thugs. I don't think that quite works, and I'm glad it's not as simple as that. What is clear is that these two friends should have been together as lovers, but missed connecting because of the timing in their lives. He was in love with her but she was busy being a model and didn't see him this way until it was too late. Tragedy struck in different ways for them, forcing her to reevaluate her life and only hoping he could return to normal. The film seems to be about priorities in life, about connection, and the need to seize the moment with the people around us while we can.
Denis Villeneuve's first film felt a little less than fully cohesive, but ultimately its quirkiness and ambiguity won me over. On the positive side, it has surreal elements, a gorgeous use of the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, and bittersweet touches of a love story between two friends. It's also got scenes which showed a real flair, such as the confined, white interior of the 'Space Hotel' at the airport, which was a nice parallel to the seemingly endless, blinding salt flats. On the negative side, some of the moments in the film are held too long, unsupported by meaningful dialogue, and suspicious character motivations make the sequence of events in the story questionable, at least if taken literally.
There are many things which defy reason and leave the film open to interpretation, starting with most of the action occurring on days which go from August 32 to August 36 before jumping to September 5 and September 9 near the end. After falling asleep at the wheel and overturning her car, a disoriented young woman (Pascale Bussières) wanders through a thick field and sees two different vehicles, which is never explained. Later, feeling an existential crisis over the incident, she asks her best friend (Alexis Martin) to impregnate her despite his relationship with another woman, and he reluctantly accepts provided that they do it in the desert. Without asking a single question for this absurd condition, she immediately books a flight to the nearest desert in Utah. What? The two take a taxi out to the Bonneville Salt Flats, running afoul of the cabbie who reads a book called 'The Extraterrestrials' when he isn't trying to extort money from them. Left alone in the desert in the middle of the day for hours without water and forced to walk back, they don't suffer physically at all, and in fact find time for a silly argument before she comes across a charred corpse, which is also never explained.
One of the obvious interpretations is that all of these events on non-existent days are in her mind following the accident, with some flashes of reality, such as the moment they were hiking on a hilltop and parted enigmatically, or when he was beaten into a coma by young thugs. I don't think that quite works, and I'm glad it's not as simple as that. What is clear is that these two friends should have been together as lovers, but missed connecting because of the timing in their lives. He was in love with her but she was busy being a model and didn't see him this way until it was too late. Tragedy struck in different ways for them, forcing her to reevaluate her life and only hoping he could return to normal. The film seems to be about priorities in life, about connection, and the need to seize the moment with the people around us while we can.