Bold, primary colours take centre point within the animated tale Death Does Not Exist (La mort n’existe pas) which convey the film’s blunt messaging effectively. Political in nature and economic in scale, the film lays bare its stance within its opening sequence leaving no doubt about its eat the rich philosophy. Beyond this, the film does not attempt to move its narrative outside of existing conventions and therefore fails to ignite. Unfortunately, there is no imagination deployed by using an already established trope common to many films, with a group of young adults deciding to rebel against wealthy landowners, which does not instantly inspire confidence. Plus, the film contains no context to this rebellious, violent opening attack neither does it flesh out any of the personas to provoke any empathy towards them. Yet, despite a basic, two dimensional plot and crude sketches there might just, with a patient audience, be enough substance left to entertain until the finale.
Don’t get us wrong, the contradictions outlined within protagonist Hélène’s last minute decision not to join her band of merry men friends’ attack produces greater opportunities for the storyline to follow. Yet, for unknown reasons Death Does Not Exist fails to pursue these more engaging elements, which encourages more questions than answers, resulting in a lifeless storyline. Despite the on screen violence depicted, which is neither pointless or gratuitous, there is no commitment to a side and the film effectively lurks in the shadows mirroring its character Hélène’s indecisiveness. Still, the initial political machinations of the group may intrigue but no further fulfilment is offered to audiences by the director’s puzzling decision to drip feed character information in an insubstantial rushed, piecemeal fashion. Whilst Hélène hides in a forest and displays avoidant tendencies, the film takes advantage of the scenario to go off on a tangent thereby disrupting its political subterfuge set up. Quite frankly, viewers will be just as lost attempting to sift through a half-hearted montage of mystical forest lore with tenuous connections to the friendship, love and loyalty of the bandits in dreamlike sequences.
Confused? So were we by the end due to the film’s lack of narrative structure. But, it must be said that Death Does Not Exist’s strongest elements are its ambitious bold animated choices. Here, the film comes into its own as Hélène, in the forest, is confronted by a friend presenting alternative options which enable director Félix Dufour-Laperrière’s imagination to run wild. Primarily, Dufour-Laperrière is an animation filmmaker and clearly prefers using that media format for flexibility and freedom. This preference is reflected by the degree of magic and powers appearing on screen, with no explanation, permitting transformations amongst most species in nature. The dynamics between a predator and prey are visually impactful and provide brief glimpses of substantial undercurrents. Yet, despite these impressive and intriguing animation choices the storytelling remains a mish mash of ideas that continually fail to coalesce.
There are some good ideas in the making as climate, environment and that sense of uprising by sub-cultures are in effect but, unfortunately the film cannot free itself from merely being a superficial sounding board and in the end does not have the desired impact that it seeks.
There are many ideas hinted upon but not fully developed, many characters appear without the audience knowing why it should care about their involvement. Different people come and go and address Hélène but again we don’t know why she should care about their input or what the difference is between the actual events and the imagined world created through the enchanted forest. Oh and then there’s a young girl who appears and looks like Hélène and is possibly her younger self stopping for a short period simply to impart unsolicited pearls of wisdom, seemingly out of context.
Yes, it is a messy film. However, the unusual ideas portrayed are to be appreciated due to the scale of the animation as ewe request more original unique plotlines. Unfortunately, these flashes of brilliance fail to redeem the film which remains lacking overall. Perhaps history might be kind to Death Does Not Exist and remember it as a film that was lauded for daring to experiment and tackle current prevalent issues that may impact future generations. In that sense, only time will tell for Death Does Not Exist.
Amongst all of the disconnected exposition and the incoherent overstuffing of ideas, there is a good film in there somewhere. Unfortunately, in its current form the film is too difficult to navigate and will ultimately require too much effort and investment from audiences which disappointingly threatens to dilute the film’s animated creative flair.
Death Does Not Exist (La mort n’existe pas) recently screened at the Cannes Film Festival.
Learn more about the film at the IMDB site for the title.
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