Répertoire des villes disparues (OmeU)

Denis Côté’s films are defined by eccentricity, understanding this term as any way of life detached from orthodoxy and conventionalism. This time, Côté places his viewpoint – without making it explicit – on cities as places where their citizens take shelter from the feeling of vulnerability caused by primitive fears and the mysteries still lurking in the lonely wildernesses of all geographies. That is why Côté choses a tiny village in Canada as the epicenter of a tale with a dash of fantasy: Maybe the dead and the living can unwittingly coexist, especially in such a location. A car accident (or suicide) sufered by a 21-year-old man alters the delicate balance in a community of no more than 215 (living) inhabitants, an existential equilibrium jealously managed by a local female mayor. Côté is an experienced filmmaker. He is able to use the desolation of winter and a landscape covered in snow to further establish the vulnerability of his creatures and to materialize the state of mind of his main characters, particularly the brother and the mother of the deceased young man. For both of them, grief is too hard. And if the dead are watching the living, this metaphysical interaction is not nearly enough to alleviate the anguish experienced by consciousness when confronted with the absence of a loved one. (Roger Koza)

In the presence of Denis Côté.