Stéphane

Have you ever met somebody who has overwhelmed you? Somebody whose personality seemed so much bigger than your own that you ended up going along with them even though you didn’t really want to, not sure how to say ‘No,’ not sure that they’d notice if you did? Sometimes it can be fun to be around somebody like that. It can feel flattering or liberating, like an adventure. The reason most people are wary of it, however, is that they recognise how difficult it could be to get away if it all went horribly wrong.

Tim (Bastien Garcia) and Stéphane (Lucas Pastor, who co-wrote and co-directs with Timothée Hochet) meet on a film set – Tim’s film set. Stéphane is there as a special effects supervisor, to create an explosion. It’s not clear if he has any particular expertise or if he just likes explosives and is keen to give it a try, but he talks a good line, easily impressing the inexperienced director. Tim is at an early stage in his career and we see nothing which suggests that it’s likely to go much further. He is (as Hochet put it), not particularly talented, and he doesn’t have many ideas. What this means is that when Stéphane latches onto him and starts praising his talent, he laps up the unexpected attention, lowers his guard, and accepts a lift to the train station so that they can spend a little more time together.

One missed train later and Stéphane promises to drive Tim home. Then they stop off along the way for food and a few drinks. A meandering journey, on which Tim’s original plans drift ever further out of sight, sees them arrive at last on a private island where Stéphane, like a budget supervillain, owns a huge, rambling house. A new plan is formed. They will make a film together, starring in it themselves and using whatever comes to hand. Seemingly out of nowhere, Stéphane acquires an actress (Eva Gregorieff), apparently a refugee who barely speaks a word of French. He describes her as if she were a substitute daughter. Tim begins to fantasise about saving her, seeing her as a possible romantic partner. Both men are cruel to her in their different ways.

Unfolding like a stream of consciousness (much of it was actually written on the fly), this is a film which is at first uncomfortable, then compelling, then disturbing. Stéphane starts out seeming like a bumbling, friendless man desperate for attention, only to reveal layer upon layer of unexpected depth; in the process, Tim becomes more and more powerless. Small arguments over creative issues begin to feel as if they could lead to something really dangerous. The writer/director team have a marvellous talent for wrongfooting their audience. Keep watching until the very end of the credits. There are twists in this film which you really won’t see coming.

Played with commitment and a complete lack of vanity, this is a real rollercoaster ride – of the rickety old wooden sort, perhaps, but those are scarier, because one can never be fully confident that they’ve been properly maintained. It screened at Beyond Fest and is one of the year’s most delightful hidden gems. Hochet and Pastor are ones to watch – and we might very well encounter Stéphane again, too, one way or another.