Male Friendship Comes Apart In Hubert Charuel’s Assured Sophomore Feature
A meteorite enters Earth’s atmosphere moving up to 72 kilometers per second and (usually) burns up before striking the ground. Best friends Mika (Paul Kircher) and Daniel (Idir Azougli) seem to move with just as much potential destructive force in Hubert Charuel’s drama Meteors. A sensitive study of male friendship approaching the moment of fracture, the filmmaker’s sophomore feature offers a composed exploration of addiction and codependent relationships.
In Saint-Dizier, in northern France, the former factory tower of ice cream manufacturer Miko looms over the town. Bought out by a giant conglomerate in the mid-1990s, the landmark is a relatable metaphor for the region itself — a place of disrepair and forgotten dreams. That’s certainly how Mika and Daniel view their surroundings, as they spend their days working part-time, committing petty thief, drinking, smoking, and spinning their wheels. But they’re hatching plans to leave for a kennel on Réunion island where they’ll care for sick and recovering dogs. Those half-baked intentions are scotched when they’re arrested after a drunken and impulsive attempt to steal a prize-winning Maine Coon cat to sell for money goes awry. Faced with the possibility of at least five years in prison, things take a turn for the worse when Daniel suffers an epileptic fit in court. The diagnosis is grim: cirrhosis of the liver and three years left to live unless Daniel confronts and conquers his alcohol addiction.
As the wisdom goes, you can’t make someone get help until they’re ready and Daniel isn’t ready. However, Daniel and Mika both need to straighten out their lives if they hope to avoid jail. With six months until their trial, they attempt to go legit, with Mika voluntarily entering rehab and the pair taking construction jobs at a nuclear waste site. Hired by their friend Tony (Salif Cissé), he’s just like them — ready for a drink and a good hang — but he’s also moved ahead, where they’ve fallen behind. Tony runs his own business and lives in a comfortable, modern bungalow behind an electronic gate; they live in a barely standing house, paying rent by patching together Mika’s part-time Burger King wages and Daniel’s contraband deals.
Screenwriter Claude Le Pape (2014’s Love at First Fight) draws two characters who are both in denial. Daniel’s denial is more obvious as an addict who refuses to believe he’s lost control. But Mika’s case is trickier, as he comes to realize that by hanging on to Daniel for so long, he’s lost his own sense of purpose. That together, they’re bringing each other down, preventing them finding meaning beyond their youth. Le Pape’s script broaches this specific passage of young male life with clarity, understanding that moment of confusion that exists before coming-of-age.
The region of Haute-Marne doesn’t seem to be much to look at, and cinematographer Jacques Girault captures the gritty and grey atmosphere that infuses the picture with a textural quality. However, this is contrasted with a well curated soundtrack that alternates between pulsating and ambient electronic music, lining us up with the changing rhythms of Mika and Daniel.
You can always count on your friends, but sometimes, that reliance becomes a crutch. Charuel and Pape recognize that space with a sympathy that is never sentimental. That loss of the person who knows you best takes time to heal, and Meteors doesn’t conclude with any easy answers. Instead it suggests that, like sobriety, it’s the small victories you have to appreciate as you move forward.
Reviewed on May 19th at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival (78th edition) – Un Certain Regard. 111 Mins
★★★½/☆☆☆☆☆