Evolution Review: Elliptical and mysterious

Hadzihalilovic’s latest feature is like a cross between a Jacques Cousteau underwater documentary and one of David Cronenberg’s cerebral body horror films

Lucile Hadzihalilovic, 82 mins, starring: Max Brebant, Roxane Duran, Julie-Marie Parmentier

Hadzihalilovic’s latest feature is like a cross between a Jacques Cousteau underwater documentary and one of David Cronenberg’s cerebral body horror films.

It is set on a mysterious Mediterranean island in which the only inhabitants are women and young boys. Out swimming, 10-year-old Nicholas spots what he thinks is a dead body - and this spurs him to investigate the adults’ mysterious and sinister behaviour.

The film is gorgeously shot but very elliptical and mysterious. The aquatic scenes are intercut with sequences showing bizarre medical experiments conducted by severe looking nurses in very dark laboratories.

The storytelling style is deliberately open-ended. The writer-director leaves it up to us to decide whether there really is some fiendish conspiracy or whether the boy is conjuring up horrific fantasies as he tries to make sense of the adult world.

Whatever the case, the film makes for intriguing and provocative viewing.