Le Monde après nous

Un film dans la même veine que Don’t Look Up et White Noise de Netflix. Tout aussi bien ciblé, mais ratant son coup, comme on pouvait s’y attendre. Des dialogues intelligents avec quelques réflexions existentielles, mais aucune véritable révélation. Des scènes de tension croissante qui renforcent la dramaturgie du film, mais qui ne font à chaque fois que suggérer ce qui peut se passer « là-bas au dehors ». Des cerfs numériques pour une touche de mysticisme, mais sans ancrage significatif dans la structure de l’intrigue. La cinématographie élégante et inventive séduit, mais elle n’atteint pas le niveau de créativité audacieuse d’un Jordan Peel. Quant à l’aspect conversationnel, il ne fait qu’essayer de faire de la sociologie au niveau d’un scénario européen ou asiatique. Malgré tout, le film est divertissant et se laisse regarder avec plaisir. Et je comprends aussi que certains puissent y voir une contribution alternative intéressante au genre du film catastrophe. Car c’est exactement de cette façon que cela pourrait se passer. (13/12/2023)

Netflix, après son succès d'il y a deux ans avec Don't Look Up, propose à nouveau, juste avant la fin de l'année, une satire apocalyptique à la fois comique et glaçante. Si cette tendance se maintient tous les deux ans, je serai plutôt content, même si j'ai plus de réserves cette fois-ci. Le casting est bon, tout comme l’excellente montée de l’ambiance. Il est admirable que Sam Esmail réussisse à maintenir le spectateur en haleine pendant 140 minutes, mais le problème survient dans le final, qui se borne à expliquer si littéralement à l'audience l'action et le message du film que même un idiot analphabète pourrait comprendre. De plus, c'est associé à des personnages dont le comportement caricatural et la communication forcée et artificielle sur les problèmes de base servent le propos du film, mais semblent artificiels et un peu agaçants. Dommage. Par contre, un pouce en l'air pour la scène finale qui souligne l'importance de posséder des supports physiques malgré la diffusion sur Netflix. Le comble ! (20/12/2023)

Praise for the first four chapters: It's as if elements from the best disaster flicks of the last three decades came together. The suspicion of something dangerous, like in Take Shelter, and the view of a global catastrophe through the microcosm of ordinary people who have no influence on the situation, like in Spielberg's War of the Worlds. Sam Esmail builds the tension of each scene fantastically (I'll remember the tanker for a long time), with clever camera rides that make it all look very cinematic – I couldn't count the iconic scenes with the fingers on one hand. The actors are all man great, except for the young boy, and Mahershala Ali gives it his best performance. With him, all it takes is one scene of him telling his ominous tale to Juliet over wine and it gives you the chills of a first-rate horror film. The daughter's adoration of Friends and her main concern for how the last episode turned out, even though everything is going to shit around her in real life, is such an apt satirical dig at the need of some shallow-minded individuals for whom even the slightest banality is enough to fulfill life. Unfortunately, it loses it's previous mojo in the last instructional chapter. The mystery evaporates and its explanation is like something out of a Trumpist paranoid pamphlet about how the whole world is against the US and that the truth is in the hands of the preppers who have had their packs of basic necessities ready for years, or who have thrown their entire savings into an underground bunker. I think that on Judgment Day I’ll be taking a quiet nap :o) (05/01/2024)

Hot mess, but I love it. It sucked me in at the beginning and didn't let go until the last scene, any "rational" complaints are forgotten. (10/12/2023)

This film is the kind that will have people either giving it one star or five. Essentially, nothing happens, but at the same time, everything does. It's an apocalypse in real-time where you learn nothing but are enveloped in an overwhelmingly tense atmosphere. The only downside is the lack of memorable scenes. However, the few that we get are absolutely phenomenal. I really appreciate how the filmmakers created a movie brimming with perfect tension from an atmosphere of complete uncertainty. As the movie approached its end, with a runtime exceeding two hours that flew by, I was almost dreading a typical American-style explanation that could ruin it. But to my immense relief, it didn’t happen. The film’s ending is just perfect, and very much fitting the genre. (27/12/2023)

Concentrated building of apocalyptic tension that employs clever work with perspective reminiscent of Spielberg’s War of the Worlds (including the way Esmail microdoses the disaster). In emotional terms, we find ourselves between the brightest moments of Shyamalan, Peele and the masterful Take Shelter, but transposed from the working class to New York’s upper middle class. In my opinion, Leave the World Behind is a much more accurate depiction of the catastrophic zeitgeist than all of those hyped-up eco-anti-capitalist satires. It works primarily as a film and some of the statements from the mouths of the believable characters directed against the system and society come off better than in the case of pompous puppet shows. Great work with the camera trajectories, precise actors (Mahershala Ali winner by KO), excellent sound design... If not for a few tonal stumbles, this would be without doubt one of the best disaster films of recent years. (20/12/2023)

Sam Esmail, the creator of the praised series Mr. Robot, directs an apocalyptic psychological thriller about a cyber attack for Netflix, with a decent cast and definitely higher potential. But Esmail and Netflix deserve a thumbs up, as there can never be enough good mystery conspiracy thrillers. Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke, Mahershala Ali, and even Kevin Bacon in a smaller role make a for a good ensemble cast, so even though it is mainly a conversational drama-thriller with a longer running time than healthy, the film is fortunately not boring. (Of course, it depends on the individual.) I liked the mysterious atmosphere that accompanies the whole film, the division into chapters, and the craftsmanship. The few apocalyptic shots are very nice (although they could have been longer and there could have been more of them). There are plenty of questions and few answers, which wouldn't be a problem if the film didn't have a strange ending where you expect a proper twist and gets that instead. I always have the feeling that when filmmakers are unsure how to end the film and are afraid they don't have a well-thought-out twist, they end it randomly like this, but this doesn't apply in this case. I'm not completely thrilled about it, I expected a bigger mindfuck experience, but compared to the latest Shyamalan, it's definitely a class better. Although there were a few things that bothered me, overall I have no problem with it, and the film receives a weaker 4 stars from me. However, the idea is definitely terrifying. 7/10. (12/12/2023)

No Bruce drilling into asteroids, Aaron drilling to the core, and Roland twisting all kinds of cataclysms. The era of relatively happy endings is over; a more personal approach to preparing for the inevitable is taking over, dealing with dark prospects, and retreating into the underground around an image with the inscription "Hope begins in the dark." Should I be impressed by the camera moving through floors, walls, and holes in the tin roof of a forest cabin, or the neurotic music feeding the fear of an unknown danger? Not really. What struck me the most was the realization that when the crisis comes, Apple Pay and soy lattes will have zero value compared to a shotgun in the hands of a farmer with a shabby cap, and we, looking from above, will need to dismount from that horse quickly. I resonate with the plotline about Friends. I’d also like to feel good and return to times that seem as if they never existed. (12/12/2023)

Sam Esmail serves up a slow platter of nervs with no easy answers. It will annoy everyone, but I always liked these questions and stories. A depressing drama with a satirical patina. The three-pronged attack is a very interesting theme. You'd think Europe would be entering the first phase, so good luck with that. A formally brilliant exercise, with great performances. Though they might as well have left the drunken dancing Julia Roberts on the cutting room floor. Since Netflix likes it long. P.S: A must for fans of Friends and Matthew Perry's death as a thoughtful marketing ploy? A joke worthy of Chandler. (09/12/2023)

A more thoughtful, tense and overall more minimalist version of Civil War with a gradually escalating atmosphere in the style of Take Shelter. Technically outstanding. Great cinematography and editing. Superb acting, a shame some elements were left unexplained and perhaps the conclusion was too rushed given the carefully constructed build up to the finale. (31/05/2024)

This is how I hoped to like Don't Look Up, but I didn't. Not even close. Leave the World Behind is a much more mysterious, clever, funny, better made and written film that actually accurately describes my feelings about the world today. Like Julia Roberts’s monologue in the shack. (10/12/2023)

Social satire, slowburn, the end of humanity. I love these sub genres and Sam Esmail is a god, being such a newcomer to filmmaking and making such a great flick, it's something you don’t often see. Along with Knock at the Cabin, Leave the World Behind can confidently rank among the best subgenre films of the year, one that leads us by the nose and keeps us in suspense from the first minutes. We don't know if it's an invasion, the apocalypse, world war, a cyber-attack or bioterrorism; we're given more than enough clues, each one hot enough to catch us off guard, but yet elusive enough that we're not immediately sure. Thus, we get to the final minutes with a bunch of clues in hand, but still sufficiently ignorant of the final denouement, and although a savvy viewer will have an inkling of how the film will end, nothing is still clear. Absolutely precise work with the mindfuck music (hello Us), the wonderfully strange shots, the acting that tightens the handful of characters the viewer is perfectly content with, and especially the gradual unravelling of the pieces of the puzzle until the final sombre, melancholic almost artfully played out finale. I'm not going to lie, the ending is not the boom the film might seem to be heading towards, but I'm still satisfied as I haven't been in a long time, these games with the viewer are the top of all genres for me, and I applaud with gusto and have to say I'll definitely be back. (11/12/2023)

You have to be cautious with Netflix. And this is doubly true for their film productions. It's really hit or miss (and unfortunately, it often falls into the latter category). However, after watching Leave the World Behind, I definitely place it in the first category. Sam Esmail surprised me. Technically, I haven’t seen a better film on this streaming platform so far. The camera work was precise (I was in awe), and the editing was excellent. Not to mention, the actors gave their absolute best (I was pleased to see Julia Roberts on the big screen again after a while). As for the plot, I really liked how the film chose to tell its story. The fact that you often had to piece things together yourself suited me perfectly (literalness in other films can become tiresome, so I welcomed the change). Besides everything, the film also offers some gripping sequences (the plane crash, the Tesla car scene, the teeth of one of the main characters) that took my breath away. So why not a five-star rating? The ending felt a bit rushed to me. I understand the creators' decision to go this route for a possible sequel, but I would have preferred a more thought-out closure. Still, it undoubtedly earns an 8/10. P.S. The soundtrack is absolutely brilliant! (11/01/2024)