Educational Media Reviews Online

During a 4-month period in 2016, writer and director Beauvais, secluded himself in rural France to try to come to terms with his own life and current events. Driving his isolation was a messy relationship break-up and an incomprehensible political and cultural climate that included the November 2015 Paris terrorist attacks that killed 130 people. In his grief and in a world apparently gone mad with violence, he spends nearly every day watching movies, hundreds and hundreds of films. He works his way through an extensive private DVD collection, as well as archival and pirated films he finds on the Internet. The melancholy essay reveals some of his day to day existence during this time as well as the moments in his personal life that brought him to the edge of despair. At the film’s end, he emerges from his self-isolation and returns to Paris. According to the director’s statement the images and words featured are meant to express a scream that is “my inner turmoil, my helplessness, my dereliction.” His feelings of anger, anxiety, and fear are a reflection both very personal and universal.

Brief black and white and color clips from many of the films appear as a fast-moving montage to an introspective narrative provided by Beauvais. Each of the films used in listed alphabetically in the final credits. The rapid editing of the film clips is carefully balanced with the slow-moving voice-over, resulting in an essay that is frenetic and at the same time measured. While not all viewers will appreciate the experimental nature of Beauvais' work, it is original and inventive. French with English subtitles.