ACID
Theatrical release: September 20, 2023
Duration: 1h40
Director: Just Philippot
Main actors: Guillaume Canet, Laetitia Dosch, Patience Munchenbach
Synopsis: Selma, 15, grows up between her two separated parents, Michal and Élise. Clouds of acidic and devastating rain fall on France. In a world that will soon collapse, this fractured family will have to come together to face this climatic catastrophe and try to escape it.
After surprising his audience with the Cloud, Just Philippot returns to the forefront with this film featuring a threat that affects many more people than locusts: Rain.
Rain as a potential source of problems for humans, this had already been mentioned in the Danish series The Rain. But while in the series the rain carries a virus that kills, here it has become acidic, the consequences of climate change and greenhouse gases. This film is inspired by the short film of the same name dating from November 2018 and which had had a small effect.
Loosely inspired by this short film, the film tells the story of a separated family whose father is a trade unionist who has just been sentenced for having kidnapped and beaten his boss. Following his judgment, he was released on probation, forced to wear an electronic bracelet. Her daughter is disconcerted by the situation and no longer knows which of her two parents to turn to. Until acid rain arrives and reshuffles the cards.
The first thing we can say about this film is that it is incredibly grimy, all in an anxious atmosphere close to the apocalypse where everything seems materially dead. People have known for a while that the phenomenon exists, but no one is prepared for what it could happen to them. The situation is even described as an exaggeration by the media.
And when that happens, we only think about one thing: surviving. Survive, because that is the only thing that matters to us in such moments. Nothing is more urgent. There is no way out, no solution at the moment, it is fatal, inevitable. Apart from being with these loved ones to live the last moment together, so as not to die alone. So there would be no happy ending. Except perhaps in certain American disaster films where an outcome is always possible at the end of the film. Not in the Just Philippot film.
From start to finish, the film puts our nerves on edge, the viewer trying to know when the nightmare will end. It's simple, the film reminded me of the series The Walking Deadd for its cataclysmic side and War of the Worlds by Steven Spielberg, where instinct and the primal fear of men overcome everything with a single goal: Stay alive. To interpret my comments on Spielberg's film, I recommend the analysis made by Marty's Session on The War of the Worlds, which demonstrates in an exceptional way the paroxysm of a situation out of control.
Just Philippot does not spare its viewer. The feeling of fear is very present. How to protect yourself from an element that interferes everywhere and is deadly. This element which is nevertheless a source of life in ordinary times, here becomes the worst enemy that we can imagine since it is everywhere. How can we not raise our eyes and peer into the distance if we don't see the threat of a gray cloud, the dull, distant sound of thunder that when we were so frightened.
On this point, the film is successful. Two wide shots clearly show us the scale of the threat and the terror it brings us.
This acid rain will not only terrorize us with its dangerousness, but also deconstruct our certainties about what can keep us alive. Keep us safe in cars that melt like plastic? The rust that results from this in turn becomes dangerous. Just like the bridges made of steel and which seem to become houses of cards, very fragile in the face of this element which has become public enemy number 1. And finally the water of streams and rivers which are no longer a source of refreshment but which inspire distrust. If unfortunately you risk it, it's over for you, because the acid rain is dense, nothing will be spared you. Just Philippot shows you in a raw way what happens to your skin at that moment and brings us closer to the vision of horror of the faces of the zombies in the American series mentioned above.
If technically the film is very successful for a budget of 3 million euros, it is not perfect. The anxiety-provoking atmosphere of the images of desolation overshadows the anguished characters who lack nuance in their acting. Here, there is no significant development in the characters and they seem cold. If Guillaume Canet's character seems aware of his violent actions, it doesn't really help him. Just the feeling that he needs to bring his family together, especially his daughter who he is afraid of losing. A way of redeeming his heavy past, but without the film being able to offer a glimmer of hope.
Don't think the film will leave you unscathed. This film is not a film from the world of Hollywood. Philippot's film is not here to brush you off or show miracle solutions to the phenomenon. He is there to point out the consequences of a phenomenon which could worsen if nothing is done in the next twenty years. Because if the film presents the subject of acid rain in an exaggerated way, this rain already exists in the world, slowly killing flora and fauna.
It is therefore a fairly dark film, ruthless and raw in its staging but which is there to alert us to the consequences of modern man, halfway between fiction and reality.
