Writers: Lucile Hadzihalilovic, Alante Kavaite
Director: Lucile Hadzihalilovic
Evolution is a very French film: slow, stylish and opaque.
The film begins with some gorgeous underwater photography and introduces us to a young boy, Nicolas (Max Brebant who is in almost every scene and carries the load superbly). Nicolas lives with his mother (Julie-Marie Parmentier) in a small, plain coastal village.
For the first fifteen minutes of the film almost nothing happens. But with no action to distract us, we slowly realise that the setup isn’t as ordinary as it seems at first sight. The village is totally devoid of and signs of civilisation, not even a car to be seen. Nicolas’s home is plain to the extent of being spartan with the only technology being an old cooking stove. This might mean the village is an Amish style tech spurning culture – but that wouldn’t explain why the only people are boys the same age as Nicolas along with their mothers. No babies, no girls, no adult men.
The atmosphere here is a combination of depressing and subtly disturbing. Then Nicolas is taken to the local hospital by his mother and the atmosphere changes to one of menace. The nurses at the hospital are giving the boys treatment that at best is ‘off label’.
As we learn more about what’s going on at the hospital the film becomes more unpleasant. It’s never gory but still nasty – there’s a definite Eraserhead vibe here. Things are just ‘wrong’. Stylistically it’s clearly French arthouse with many long slow scenes in which nothing is said – and sometimes nothing moves.
So why is all this happening? Well we never really find out. The entire film is seen through Nicolas’s eyes, so we share his sense of confusion. By the end of film we have a pretty good idea of ‘what’ is happening but no clue as to the ‘why’. I can think of half a dozen different back stories, none of which quite fit.
Of course it’s possible that the whole thing is intended to be allegorical; there are recurring motifs such as the starfish shape (one character is called Stella) and (re)growth. But again, if it is allegorical then I don’t know quite which allegory is intended. Is it a coincidence that the French word for mother is so similar to the French word for sea? Maybe, but probably not. I don’t know.
Which is ultimately my problem with the film. It has lots of things to appeal to me: It’s beautiful, classy and intelligent; the atmosphere is more relentlessly unpleasant than blood soaked slasher; and it left me thinking for a long time afterwards.
But I wanted more. I don’t mind a degree of ambiguity and open endedness, but I need a little more solid foundation than Evolution gave me. Just a few more pieces of the jigsaw.
So Evolution is a gorgeous and captivating film that I really wanted to love but which ultimately left me disappointed.