Déjà mort is the film which earned its director Olivier Dahan his
reputation as a film director to watch out for. It is a brave attempt to push
the film noir genre into new territory, providing a shocking portrayal of the destructive
effect of that deadly cocktail of ambition, money and drugs. To the familiar character-based
French thriller the film mixes in the sickening brashness of the youth culture movie and
the graphic hard-edged violence of the latest breed of American crime thriller.
The result is not entirely satisfactory - despite generally good acting from its
young cast (which includes rising stars Clément Sibony, Benoît Magimel and
Zoé Félix), the film is marred by its excesses and an unconvincing plot.
In places the cinematographic gimmickry gets very tiresome, the soundtrack is excessive
in places, and a number of scenes appear either badly directed or badly acted. The
film's violent ending also just fails to hit its mark, appearing somewhat gratuitous,
drawn-out and more comic than tragic. Despite these blemishes, Déjà
mort it is nonetheless a fairly impressive early effort from a director who clearly
has a great deal of flair and imagination.
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Next Olivier Dahan film: Le Petit poucet (2001)
Film Synopsis
In Nice, pizza-delivery boy Andréa introduces Laure, a 20-year-old
girl he barely knows, to his friend David. A wealthy layabout, David
has just started up his own pornographic photo agency with his friend Romain
and is looking for new models. Tired with her routine and monotonous life,
Laure is hopeful that he might put some work her way. With his parents
away from home, David invites Laure and Andréa to his sumptuous Riviera
villa. As David and Laure become lovers, Andréa distracts himself
with hard drugs and strong drink. Mallo, a producer of hard core pornographic
movies, takes a liking to Laure and suggests she might want to work for him.
When he starts to take advantage of the naive young woman, Andréa
murders him and takes Laure prisoner. He then returns to David's villa
and brings about Romain's death...
Franz Kafka's letters to his fiancée Felice Bauer not only reveal a soul in torment; they also give us a harrowing self-portrait of a man appalled by his own existence.