Venice 2023: Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person
VENICEHumanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person is a mixture between Tomas Alfredsons’s Let the Right One In and Richard Ayoade’s Submarine, not only in an enriching and constant surprising tone but in execution of aesthetic and thematics. To get to the point, Ariane Louis-Seize’s feature is brilliant. A tightly packaged black comedy that, for just over ninety minutes, crafts a terrific core of gothic horror entertainment that tackles a scrumptious amount of dark undertones – its namesake a clear indication – that evoke poignant yet harrowing thematics gelled in a brooding pot of silliness meets seriousness.
It is that gelling of tone here that is the make or break of what this feature intends to be and therefore becomes. If not given enough time to develop the seriousness and not having the wits to craft the silliness, the very definition and emphasis of this creation falls at the wayside and this the feature falls apart. But right from the opening prologue, director Louis-Seize crafts the momentum of what is to come by following a vampire family with a daughter who is not developing her fangs; fast forward years later, and the viewer begins to see the internal fallout of a young girl not sure of herself in world that might looks and sound the same but has a few twists and turns for the audience to witness.
It is the simplicity here that evokes the greatest immersion of depth. This isn’t solely a story of being a young vampire in a human world but a deeper enriching story of a young woman lost in direction, meaning and identity. Issues that plague the vast degree of young people within this world. The added satisfaction and elevation here is that vampire twist, which allows Louis-Seize to explore the silliness of iconography, tone and convention deepens the enriching comedic sentiments – not just because of audience expectations but also the mixing within the further character traits that this feature produces.
Not going too deep in exploring vampire lore and placing this story in the eyes and ears of what essentially is a young woman feeling depressed due to lack of fangs – and therefore role – reads akin to gender identity and eating disorders. These harrowing and poignant thematics open this feature up to a deeper and enriching grounded experience that creates not only education but a palatable viewing experience to engage with subconsciously. To further that comes in the comparison to Submarine, finding two similar but different wave length teens suffering from an isolating diseases with no place in the world slowly finding each other and having to make life decisions. As it might have been guessed, yes, these sentiments begin to get quite dark and unsettling, but this is a venture that doesn’t have any issues showing the diseases of depression and it’s extremities with a means to take its power and laugh in its face. It never feels self-righteous or ignorant in doing so. Wanting to kill oneself and turn into a vampire? How do you tell your mother? It’s these simple but effective ideas that make the manner of tone all the more engaging.
Granted, tone and writing are one thing and even then a level of execution is confirmed. What really propels this piece and furthers the emotional experience is the performances from Sara Montpetit and Félix-Antoine Bénard, who utterly nail the tone this venture is going for with extreme satisfaction. On one hand, actress Sara Montpetit provides and projects on screen quite a poignant internal struggle that is subtle yet manifested with a terrific physicality – namely through her eyes. Actor Félix-Antoine Bénard equally showcases a similar if not more escoteric portrayal, yet is still glued together with the utmost terrific sense of morality and physical awkwardness that never once lets up and reinforces that needed tonal soothing when this feature at times touches on incredibly dark moments.
It all encompasses in a constantly fun and entertaining cycle or farce of what could happen or go wrong next. It is this unwavering satisfaction that engulfs the viewer, and at such a tight ninety-ish minutes, the film excels in never letting its own slowdown or be entertained with the shear idea of boredom. Ultimately, Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person is a surprisingly soulful outing that twists the conventional tale and lore of its subject with authentic and ironic human endeavours without actually doing anything too silly, keeping this both grounded and mature for a poignant and emotional ride.
