the apple never falls far from the tree

With this very well-finished 90-minute work, Caitlin Cronenberg succeeds in keeping the viewer in suspense from start to finish, mastering the codes of the genre very well and relying on an effective screenplay by Ontarian Michael Sparaga. The story is set in a dystopian future where a global catastrophe and dwindling resources has caused all countries to close their borders while they have one year to achieve their “population reduction” goals.

A “commitment” plan has been set up where people can volunteer to be euthanized to save the rest of the planet (a concept which is also discussed in the novel “The Three-Body Problem” by the Chinese writer Cixin Liu (very close to the regime). Humanthe State goes so far as to publish commercials honoring those who gave their lives!

Family closed session

Thus, Charles York (Peter Gallagher), a retired and wealthy journalist, invites his four children to his mansion and announces to them that he and his wife Dawn (Uni Park) have decided to “commit”. You can guess that the revelation doesn’t go down very well, but the situation becomes even worse when Dawn flees and the “Citizen Strategy Department”, responsible for carrying out the euthanasias, arrives on site to respond to the “commitment” of the couple. Their boss, Bob (Enrico Colantoni), is a sociopath who refuses to leave without “two bodies” even though Dawn has set sail.

So he gives the siblings two hours to decide between them who will sacrifice himself, otherwise he will draw straws… The selfish Jared (Montrealer Jay Baruchel), who works for the government and has distanced himself from all his loved ones? Rachel (Montrealer Emily Hampshire), hypocrite and cold and mother of little Mia (Sirena Gulemgaus)? Ashley (Alanna Bale), the young actress trying to make her mark? Or Noah (Sebastian Chacon), the black sheep of the family, once a prodigy pianist who fell into the hell of drugs and has only just come out of it and rediscovered the taste for life thanks to a new story of ‘love?

You will understand that things get messy quite quickly in this family where everyone was already far from getting along perfectly and who thus finds themselves behind closed doors with a few weapons at hand. And if it’s by Cronenberg, there’s sure to be blood.

Meanwhile, Mia, the most human and balanced of the group despite her young age, also finds herself behind closed doors playing cards with the sinister Bob in the government trailer while waiting for her mother, aunt and uncles to take a decision or end up killing each other.

Twists and turns

The twists and turns, which we will not reveal so as not to spoil the moviegoer’s pleasure, are numerous until the very end. Let’s just say that everyone takes a beating, that the paradigm changes a few times in the relationship between the Yorks and that a few disruptive elements will of course disrupt the course of things. We also learn that the methods used by Bob and his colleagues in the department are ultimately far from being very ethical.

Towards the end, Cronenberg brilliantly uses the cuts between scenes to leave the viewer wanting more and reveal the details a little later. Baruchel is excellent in the role of a detestable Jared, like Colantoni as Bob, a little crazy and a little corrupt, while Chacon makes a Noah full of nuances.

The director, for her part, has clearly inherited her father’s talent, making a first film without length which also makes us think about the value of human life in a period where we are often harped on about overpopulation. We also appreciate the very critical tone towards the tactics used by the State in this fiction. In short, we can say that the 39-year-old director did not miss her debut and we hope that she will have time for other film projects.