Say My Name Say My Name: Rapin Conquers Hearts, Minds and VR HeadSets in Wonky Digital Dystopia Piece
After exploring themes of rebirth and reincarnation in her 2019 Bosnian war feature debut, Heroes Don’t Die (read review), Aude Léa Rapin turns her focus to incarceration and a dystopian cyber-futurism world where virtual reality is more than a tool it is a lethal and ethically charged weapon. A French and English-language film medium-budget sci-fi thriller, Planète B. effectively sidesteps your usual world under draconian control and sees Adèle Exarchopoulos and Souheila Yacoub imbuing their characters with a raw vulnerable survivalist energy, but the film’s playful shifts between parallel journeys, dual realities, and interconnected worlds sometimes feels over-stuffed and a bit silly to the point of distraction.
Set less than two decades into the future in present-day France, a violent clash between the government and anti-fascist anarchists results in the disappearance of several individuals, notably one Julia Bombarth (Exarchopoulos). When she awakens, Julia finds herself beached and then trapped on another planet—more like a tropical version of Gitmo, complete with an underutilized swimming pool — fenced off with physical and mental barriers. Here, the authorities aim to break her spirit in what often feels like a Russian roulette existence among her stranded peers. Enter Nour (Yacoub), a rogue figure searching for her QR code, a borrowed identity, coveted freedom, and a VR headset. She, too, has a past she’d rather leave behind, and her best-laid escape plan in this new reality is to make it to Canada. In the most unconventional of ways, Nour and Julia form a fragile alliance, becoming mutually dependent—a two-way street of shared intel and survival strategies.
With possible reference points of highbrow Christopher Nolan, Alex Garland cinema, 1960’s The Prisoner, 50’s paranoia cinema and Babluani’s 13 Tzameti, the film flushes out this idea of identity being transitory and ownership of self being both tangible, versatile and a numbers game — almost sand castle like in existence. Exarchopoulos and Yacoub anchor the film, but the premise feels somewhat clunky, with supporting characters lacking any kind of depth (see India Hair’s limited range). Adding to the film’s unsettling atmosphere, filmmaker Bertrand Bonello provides an eerie synth score, while cinematographer Jeanne Lapoirie bathes the moonlit beachfront scenes in dark blues, reminding us of the visceral reality that our bodies’ main appendage is the thing that pumps our blood. Planète B hints at a deeper commentary on the uneasy relationship between police surveillance and journalistic rights, but as a genre exercise, it leans heavily into the blurred lines between reality and illusion. At its core, the message seems to be that we are all avatars of our own existence.
Reviewed on August 29th at the 2024 Venice Film Festival (81st edition) – International Critics’ Week (opening film). 118 Minutes.
★★½/☆☆☆☆☆
