big dick or guilty pleasure? (Critical)

The project had everything to please, since all the ingredients were there to make the cocktail explosive. Just imagine, a French shark film which takes place in the Seine during a triathlon competition and which is broadcast a few weeks before the 2024 Olympics, the timing is absolutely brilliant, especially when we know that Emmanuel Macron and Anne Hidalgo are supposed to bathe in the largest pool dedicated to the e-coli bacteria. The icing on the Turkish delight is that it is also directed by Xavier Gens, an enthusiast who comes from horror cinema, who worked in Hollywood and who found a new passion with tape cinema while working with Gareth Evans on the Gangs of London series. And with the director of The Raid 1 and 2, Xavier Gens learned to step up his game and we saw it last year with Farang, an imperfect film of course, but which has a passion and a passion to see itself in the screen.

TROUBLED IDENTITIES

In fact, there are several problems with Under the Seine and it’s clearly not the direction that is the strong point of the film for me, but I’ll get to that in a few moments. No, what totally ruins the film is the screenplay, and I’m not talking about the story, which is also a perfect match for this kind of fluff. No, I’m really talking about the way Sous la Seine is told. Its narration, its dialogues, its characters, its often ludicrous situations which could have worked if the film did not take itself seriously. There are only 2 ways to make real shark movies. Either we start with the legacy left by Jaws where we must constantly frighten the viewer, suffocate them with dizzying images and shark attacks as dirty as they are realistic, or we choose pastiche, the good big nonsense like Sharnado where nothing has any meaning anymore, as long as you hit a good big bar, that’s enough. Except that Sous la Seine doesn’t know which foot to dance on. Overall, it’s a very basic film, with a real environmentalist message that it tries to defend, clumsily in fact, but it does so. And then, at times, in an unexpected flash, Xavier Gens goes into a good big comedy, notably the scene of the attack during the Triathlon where the director even goes so far as to place Monsieur Octopus at the center of this almost burlesque bubble to try to make us laugh. It works well anyway, and it’s even a shame that Octopus doesn’t have a little line to add to it, but this scene is immediately ruined by the following sequence where we return to a very serious tone, with soldiers who shoot like pigs, causing a catastrophe that will change the face of Paris. And then I’m not even talking to you about the ending, as abrupt as it is surprising, and which clearly proves that Xavier Gens was very serious with his environmentalist message. So I don’t know if it was him who forced himself to do it, or if it was the duo Yannick Dahan and Maud Heywang with whom Gens co-wrote the film who told him that it was very 2024 , or very Netflix spirit of doing it, but damn, the film also combines the worst clichés about environmental activists.

CLAW WRITING

Between the girl leader of the group with blue hair, the gay friend, a little geeky around the edges and who wears a hat regardless of the circumstances, the other members who walk around with a ring in their nose, or those who are shaved on the sides, I had the impression of seeing the characters of the video game Life is Strange. And then I’m not even talking to you about their actions, which have absolutely no credibility, especially since we have the impression that these activists, barely 20 years old, are at the head of a small anonymous hacker-type group capable of to foil the government’s plans. It’s a shame, because given the treatment that Xavier Gens reserves for them, I really have the impression that he is trying to tell us that he really does not validate this somewhat basic environmentalist message. No really, it’s not going well at all, the film is really wrong. Everything mixes together, the serious and the burlesque, just like the intrigues which telescope between them. Xavier Gens, Yannick Dahan and Maud Maywang should have focused their efforts on building their characters instead, especially those of Bérénice Bejo and Nassim Lyes who are the real ones left behind in the film. Given that the shark is not the star of the film, and yet there was room for improvement, the film is carried by the two actors, but here too the Gens film fails. He fails in their writing, but also in their acting. Bénérice Béjo, who is nevertheless a very good actress, does not seem to believe in the project either. I don’t know if it’s a problem with the actor’s direction, or if she didn’t want to make any real effort, or that she was limited, but it wasn’t very convincing, even less so when her character must start to cry whenever anyone talks about her husband’s accident, even several years later. The trauma ok, but several years and at the slightest mention of the tragedy, it’s too much.

As for Nassim Lyes in the role of Adil, brigadier head of the river brigade, it’s complicated too. I am one of the people who think that the actor can be good in dramatic roles, Farang proved it, even if his acting was still fragile, but I am convinced that he can break away from his image of Cokeman from the series By the way, even if I have to admit that he is better when he acts like the tortured guy, but I am convinced that it will come. Afterwards, in Les Nouveaux Riches on Netflix, he played golri for me and he proved that it is a register that he masters well. No, in Sous la Seine, I did not understand this need to make us believe that he is also a character bruised by his former military past, that he is a coward who abandoned his team. Not only does it never serve the purpose of the film, but what’s more, it comes as a surprise and in reality, we don’t care at all. What I wanted to see was Nassim Lyes destroying a shark with his bare hands, that’s what we wanted to see Xavier Gens!

SOLID SETTING

And it’s a shame because not everything is to be thrown away in Sous la Seine, especially in the production which is really good. For a Netflix film which was shot and released in record time, Xavier Gens demonstrated mastery and above all generosity. The French filmmaker offers us superb aquatic images, with careful shots, sometimes very refined, which magnify certain sequences. Bénérice Béjo coming out of the water with this slowed-down effect, blood in her mouth and this rage for life, we almost have the impression that the mako shark is her. And then Xavier Gens has fun with his camera, which sometimes sneaks into places we didn’t expect. He knows how to play and it shows that working internationally has allowed him to earn a few stripes. Overall, it’s quite nice, especially the underwater scenes, but sometimes the film swears and gives the feeling of veering into a low-end French sitcom. There is indeed a rendering shift in the photo, especially the outdoor scenes which really make the France 3 TV series, a strange sensation. We would even tend to believe that there were 2 directors on the same film, but with a different vision.

And the same goes for the special effects. All the underwater scenes are successful, with credible and well-made sharks. Except that as soon as the sharks come out of the water, it’s a disaster, we realize it’s low cost CGI. Really curious, these contrasts that we constantly have, whether it’s the scenario, the tone, the photography, or even the visual effects. You understand, no need to procrastinate any further, big disappointment than this Sous la Seine which nevertheless had great potential, but which does not know on which foot to dance. The advantage is that it only comes out on Netflix, so it’s part of your catalog and you won’t lose your money, just a little of your time. The film is far too unbalanced, fragile and sometimes contradictory to please. I already know that he is being trashed by my colleagues in the film press, but I am convinced that with readjustments and better ideas, we can get there, because we have the filmmakers we need here in this country. And after seeing The Count of Monte Cristo, I can tell you that France is capable of making great spectacle cinema.