Connectes

While France has been back in its second confinement since last Friday and cinemas have been forced to close again, video on demand services are currently playing a major role in offering us many recent films, series and shows as well as exclusive programs such as this film written and directed by Romuald Boulanger Connectés. After having directed programs for television such as The Strange Christmas of Jeff Panacloc (2018), this director offers us his first film surfing on confinement and new communication technologies. The main plot of this film is thus inspired by situations experienced during confinement.

One Saturday evening during the confinement, a group of friends connect online to share a virtual aperitif. Suddenly, one of them is assaulted and sequestered live by a stranger in front of his friends who watch the scene, helpless behind their screens. They will soon discover that this mysterious stranger knows all their worst secrets, which he intends to expose one after the other in broad daylight.

Even if the staging based on the presence of several windows each corresponding to one of the protagonists would rather tend to give this film the appearance of a television show, It must be acknowledged that director and screenwriter Romuald Boulanger was able to find the right approach to maintain the suspense and surround himself with actors we appreciate such as Nadia Farès, François-Xavier Demaison, Stéphane de Groodt, Audrey Fleurot, Claudia Tagbo, Pascal Demolon, Michaël Youn, Vanessa Guide and the time of a Franck Dubosc scene.

Even if some actors manage to find in this form of multi-screen a beneficent inspiration, we must admit that we would have appreciated that this film would have gone to the end of his ideas even if it meant going to the end of certain deliriums that would have brought to Connectés a very particular charm. We will appreciate the presence of François-Xavier Demaison, Michael Youn and Stéphane De Groodt, whose presence here gives the best scenes of this concept film, which can be seen with pleasure, if not really revolutionize the French thriller.

Connected
Written and directed by Romuald Boulanger
Produced by Romuald Boulanger, Sylvain Goldberg
Starring Stéphane De Groodt, Nadia Farès, François-Xavier Demaison, Michaël Youn, Claudia Tagbo, Pascal Demolon, Vanessa Guide, Audrey Fleurot and Franck Dubosc
Cinematography : Xavier Castro
Edited by Pierre-Marie Croquet, Clement Perin
Production companies : R-Lines Productions
Distributed by Amazon Prime Video (World)
Release date: November 12 2020
Running time: 85 minutes

Viewed on October 21, 2020 (screener press)