Les heros ne meurent jamais

The success of a dramatic comedy is often due to a delicate balance between an excellent script, inspired direction and a perfectly selected and invested cast. Whether it is a popular dramatic comedy or, as here, an independent film whose lack of a substantial budget could have been detrimental to the realization of its realization, the success of a film from a commercial and critical point of view, especially for a first film, depends on little. However, The Heroes Never Die turns out to be an excellent surprise and its success is due to the presence in the leading female role of the actress Adèle Haenel. We will never say again how much she is one of the best today, nor that she chooses her projects not for financial reasons but rather because of what a script inspires her.

From the first shot of the film in which we only hear her as her character Alice interviews a certain Joachim who thinks he is the reincarnation of a soldier who died in Bosnia (Zoran) the day he was born; the surrealist tone of the film is revealed. The Road Movie that follows in the middle of Bosnia proves to be captivating and keeps us in suspense until the end, leaving us without any real answer and open to different interpretations. The film addresses the theme of Bosnia as a backdrop and above all leads us to reflect on our current society in which themes such as love, friendship, war and peace continue to occupy an important part.

While this journey in the middle of Bosnia is also a way for Alice to find a part of her identity because she had already spent some time there before and for Joachim a way to look for the real reason of her existence. Joachim's troubling dreams in the middle of Bosnia seem to bring some beginnings of answers and will leave the audience to choose their own conception of things. Far from being a simple drama about the existence or not of reincarnation, The Heroes Never Die is above all an initiatory journey to his roots and a real plunge into a bruised country.

Through its theme and the presence of the excellent actress Adèle Haenel, Les héros ne meurent jamais imposes itself as an original and mastered film, but above all as a perfect way to better listen to its global environment and to believe in the impossible.

Heroes don't die
Directed by Aude-Léa Rapin
Produced by Sylvie Pialt, Benoit Quainon, Clément Miserez
Screenplay by Aude-Léa Rapin, Jonathan Couziné
With Adèle Haenel, Jonathan Couzinié, Antonia Buresi, Hasija Boric, Vesna Stilinovic, Damir Kustura
Cinematography : Paul Guilhaume
Edited by Juliette Alexandre
Production companies : Les films du Worso, Radar Films, Scope Pictures
Distributed by Le Pacte (France)
Release date: September 30, 2020 (France)
Running time : 85mns

Viewed on September 10 (press screener)

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