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Nocturama

Country: France, Language: French, 130 mins

  • Director: Bertrand Bonello
  • Writer: Bertrand Bonello
  • Producer: Bertrand Bonello; Christoph Friedel

CGiii Comment

Monsieur Bonello takes his time...but, 'successful' terrorism is a long drawn-out, methodical process...and, so is this film.

Admittedly, there is an initial tension...for 20 minutes or so...but then, the lacklustre bombings occur and these young desperados hideout in an elegant department store!?!

What follows...mistakes aplenty...by both director and by these young, idealistic, neophytic, incohesive terrorists...becomes a quagmire of indulgence.

Good performances all-round help...but, they don't compensate for the potholes and shortcomings of the script...and, some phenomenally bad editing, things go from bad to worse...the androgenous rendition of Shirley Bassey singing 'My Way' - what a load of bollocks! But...the euro-for-the-trolley...genius! A plumbed-in bath-tub in a department store!!!

Bonello's politcal agenda is glaring...capitalism, consumerism...there's nothing more irritating than a glaring political agenda!

Minus the repetitive bits and the plentiful unnecessary bits...there could have been the semblance of a good film, the chill factor is there, alas, with no depth. Sadly, Monsieur Bonello's indulgence, agenda and inability to see the wood-from-the-trees...well, they all - fatally - got in the way!

Good soundtrack though!!!


Trailer...

The(ir) Blurb...

A group of young people from diverse social backgrounds move through Paris, crossing paths, heading with determination towards a common purpose – to set the city alight. After accomplishing their terrible mission, they hide out overnight in a department store, where – surrounded by the glamorous signifiers of 21st-century materialism – they await their fate. Bertrand Bonello has established himself as one of French cinema’s most elusive and thoughtful provocateurs, exploring different aspects of outsider culture in films such as The Pornographer and House of Tolerance. His latest film will certainly be his most controversial. Conceived before the recent spate of terrorist attacks in Paris and elsewhere, Nocturama unapologetically addresses a topic that many will find disturbing, while the film’s compelling thriller-style detachment and supremely elegant execution may strike some as a questionable exercise in radical chic.

But Bonello undoubtedly has something urgent to say, not just about terrorism, but about violence, consumerism and the decay of idealism in Europe, and he says it in a way that echoes – among others - JG Ballard, Bret Easton Ellis and Alan Clarke’s Elephant. No matter how you react to it, Nocturama is undeniably extraordinary filmmaking, and a work very directly tuned to the current, increasingly troubled European psyche.
Jonathan Romney

Cast & Characters

Finnegan Oldfield as David;
Vincent Rottiers as Greg;
Hamza Meziani as Yacine;
Manal Issa as Sabrina;
Martin Petit-Guyot as Andre;
Jamil McCraven as Mika;
Rabah Nait Oufella as Omar;
Laure Valentinelli as Sarah;
Ilias Le Dore as Samir;
Robin Goldbronn as Fred;
Luis Rego as Jean-Claude;
Hermine Karagheuz as Patricia;
Adele Haenel as La jeune femme au velo;
Samir Guitet; Hadidiatou Sakho