They Came Back (Les Revenants – Robin Campillo, France 2004, 110mins)
In an inexplicable phenomenon, the dead are coming back to life. Reports are coming in all over the world that millions of deceased have left the cemeteries and are returning to their cities, towns and villages. The opening shot of this film recalls elements of 1950s American science fiction movies – with a bit of George Romero mixed in for good measure. We see a procession of the newly un-dead emerging from a cemetery in a provincial town in France; the light is bleached and the figures proceed forth in a slow and steady tempo lending a dream-like – if not surreal quality to the scene. However, the comparison with the sci-fi/horror genre diverges because the issue at heart here is not a paranoid fear of loss of individuality; rather, it is focused on the deeply personal and unique nature of mourning. An existential zombie film of sorts, perhaps, but what They Came Back is most certainly is an imaginative and thought-provoking meditation into death – and its aftermath –as an ultimate concern of the human condition. For the co-writer and co-editor of Laurent Cantet’s films, including Time Out (L’emploi du Temps) and Human Resources (Ressources Humaines), it will come as no surprise that Robin Campillo’s directorial debut feature is rich with such philosophical considerations.
In voice-over we hear the official statistics: the average ages, number of women vs. men, what measures are being taken to examine their state of health, etc. We watch as the town begins to tackle the management of an impossible reality. Scientific and political arguments are integral to the narrative. We learn that physically they haven’t quite come back to full 100% life: their body temperature is lower; they demonstrate acute symptoms of aphasia and they move at a semi-comatose pace. Because they are unable to communicate in an articulate, responsive manner we are not sure to what degree consciousness and memory are present – if at all. But as citizens they have rights – rights to pensions, employment, etc. However, it soon becomes apparent that the limitation of their reinstated condition affects their job performances and they are relegated to employment of a mindless, repetitive nature. Increasingly, the undead are becoming second class citizens and they’re not happy about it. They begin to meet at night, forming a secret society of sorts and the tone of the film moves from one of wonder and amazement to a feeling of menace that increases with steady momentum till the film’s denouement.
The film continuously shifts between the public arena to the domestic and personal; from the municipal to the private, focussing on the effects of the phenomenon on three families: the mayor of the town and his returned wife, Isham and Véronique, whose son has returned, and Rachel and her returned husband, Mathieu. Each of the three families respond to their situation in unique ways, and it’s not always with joy at having their beloved ones returned to them. Fear, ambivalence and guilt are some of the myriad emotions they encounter. One particularly poignant scene is when Véronique allows her to son to leave; Ishman’s heart is broken, but Véronique is visibly relieved.
They Came Back has much to commend it. The ideas played with here are indeed profound and the re-working of the sci-fi and horror convention is innovative. But unlike his work with Cantet, in particular L’emploi du Temps, where we are held in a vice-like grip of suspense and painful empathy, the effect here is just too subtle. The quasi-somnambulistic aura that pervades the film – the means by which we identify with how those that have been returned from the dead experience life, is in fact its very flaw. We’re veritably lulled into the same numbed state of being as the undead, precluding our ability and need to feel first hand the gamut of emotion so central to the film’s narrative success. This subtle and dreamlike approach, however, is not without its merits. The elegance with which the central conflict is resolved leaves us in a state a contemplative state somewhere between dreaming and awakening.
Review by Erica Rosen
In voice-over we hear the official statistics: the average ages, number of women vs. men, what measures are being taken to examine their state of health, etc. We watch as the town begins to tackle the management of an impossible reality. Scientific and political arguments are integral to the narrative. We learn that physically they haven’t quite come back to full 100% life: their body temperature is lower; they demonstrate acute symptoms of aphasia and they move at a semi-comatose pace. Because they are unable to communicate in an articulate, responsive manner we are not sure to what degree consciousness and memory are present – if at all. But as citizens they have rights – rights to pensions, employment, etc. However, it soon becomes apparent that the limitation of their reinstated condition affects their job performances and they are relegated to employment of a mindless, repetitive nature. Increasingly, the undead are becoming second class citizens and they’re not happy about it. They begin to meet at night, forming a secret society of sorts and the tone of the film moves from one of wonder and amazement to a feeling of menace that increases with steady momentum till the film’s denouement.
The film continuously shifts between the public arena to the domestic and personal; from the municipal to the private, focussing on the effects of the phenomenon on three families: the mayor of the town and his returned wife, Isham and Véronique, whose son has returned, and Rachel and her returned husband, Mathieu. Each of the three families respond to their situation in unique ways, and it’s not always with joy at having their beloved ones returned to them. Fear, ambivalence and guilt are some of the myriad emotions they encounter. One particularly poignant scene is when Véronique allows her to son to leave; Ishman’s heart is broken, but Véronique is visibly relieved.
They Came Back has much to commend it. The ideas played with here are indeed profound and the re-working of the sci-fi and horror convention is innovative. But unlike his work with Cantet, in particular L’emploi du Temps, where we are held in a vice-like grip of suspense and painful empathy, the effect here is just too subtle. The quasi-somnambulistic aura that pervades the film – the means by which we identify with how those that have been returned from the dead experience life, is in fact its very flaw. We’re veritably lulled into the same numbed state of being as the undead, precluding our ability and need to feel first hand the gamut of emotion so central to the film’s narrative success. This subtle and dreamlike approach, however, is not without its merits. The elegance with which the central conflict is resolved leaves us in a state a contemplative state somewhere between dreaming and awakening.
Review by Erica Rosen
posted by Barnaby at 2:05 PM
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