Hunted

Mixing genres in cinema is a perilous exercise because you have to know how to perfectly dose the different elements to avoid finding yourself in front of a movie that is shaky and does not succeed in creating a real atmosphere. Hunted is both a fairy tale, revisiting Little Red Riding Hood, and an unhealthy thriller in which a ruthless hunt and an equally ruthless vengeance unfolds before our eyes. This Franco-Belgian film nevertheless testifies with effects that seem very reduced that European cinema is capable of competing with the numerous American thrillers that are flooding our screens.

The screenplay presents a young woman who, after meeting a man in a disco, finds herself chased by him and his sidekick in a forest. This story seems unremarkable yet director Vincent Paronnaud (co-director of Persépolis (2007) and Poulet aux prunes (2011), Villemolle 81 (2009)) seems to want to move away from his favorite genre (the animated film) to deliver us a more adult, more violent and above all more immersive film.

Screenwriters Vincent Paronnaud and Léa Pernollet have not forgotten that to give life to a successful thriller, one needs not only a plot conducive to many twists and turns, but above all a perfectly defined main character. In this sense, the remarkable interpretation of the actress Lucie Debay (La confession (2016), Nos batailles (2018).) deserves to be discovered in this film.

In spite of its short duration, Hunted amply fulfills its objective of offering us a thriller in an outdoor setting with a disturbing atmosphere and beginning with a short introduction in the form of animation. Of course, the subject is not innovative in itself, but its original treatment gives all its meaning and above all allows us to retain our full attention.

Hunted
Directed by Vincent Paronnaud
Written by Vincent Paronnaud, Léa Pernollet
Starring Lucie Debay, Ciaran O'Brien, Arieh Worthalter

Seen on August 15, 2020 (Fantasia press screener)

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