Sunday, August 18, 2013

Death Tickles

Through the Forest/Á travers la forêt (2005) - Civeyrac
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Magical. Jean-Paul Civeyrac makes something extraordinary out of a story that could've been easily written by a morbid teenage girl. This 56 minute film, only comprised of nine 6-minute long shots, is at once a love story, super natural thriller and musical. A fawn like Camile Berthomier plays a grief stricken young woman, Amelie. She sees Renaud, her dead lover, in her dreams every night. After consulting a medium and having gone through a mental breakdown, she is suddenly given a power over people. So she wills her way over Hippolyte who is a deadringer for her dead lover- making him(and herself) believe that he is Renaud.

I usually hate musical numbers in films but Berthomier can sing and has a beautiful voice and the music is actually good. Then I find out she is actually a singer: