Adult egos, adolescents struggling with their emotions, and a location that forces to slow down and embark upon introspection. These are the ingredients of Philippe Lesage’s Who By Fire, winner of the Grand Prix, Generation 14plus International Jury Official Selection at Berlinale 2024. The movie by the Quebecois filmmaker has travelled around the festival circuit worldwide and has finally arrived at Lincoln Center, in the Big Apple.
The story begins as a road trip, with a father figure driving three adolescents out of town. We soon discover he is Albert (Paul Ahmarani), screenwriter and dad to Aliocha (Aurélia Arandi-Longpré) and Max (Antoine Marchand-Gagnon). The latter has invited his friend Jeff (Noah Parker) to tag along. They end up at the isolated estate of acclaimed film director Blake Cadieux (Arieh Worthalter), who welcomes them with his assistant Millie (Sophie Desmarais). The getaway, that is secluded in the forest, becomes the stage where boredom hits, alternated to escalating intergenerational tensions. The company of this group of friends is enriched by visitors, such as Ferran (Guillaume Laurin) and Barney (Carlo Harrietha), as well as the couple formed by Hélène (Irène Jacob) and Eddy (Laurent Lucas).
The trigger of problems seems to be Jeff, who happens to be there by chance, and is furthermore a fish out of water as his unrequited infatuation for Alicia kicks in. His frustration ignites a series of circumstances that unleash the demons of each of the characters residing in the house in the woods.
The Quebecois filmmaker plays with fire, as the title of the film gives away — the literal translation of the original Comme le feu would be “Like Fire.” Friction sparks between the two adult males Albert and Blake, who come face to face with their wounded amour propre; but when it comes to self-worth also the adolescents, through their coming-of-age journey, detonate their dispiritedness. Jeff, Aliocha and Max allow Philippe Lesage to expands the analysis he had done in his previous films, of exploring the psychological contours of teenagers navigating through treacherous emotional landscapes. The youthful generation desperately craves for freedom and seeks ideals. Whereas those who should be mentoring come across as immature, as they try to hold on to social codes but their jejune narcism takes over, as past resentments return to the surface.
Nature, that is usually associated to the destination where one can find peace and perspective, becomes the place that unleashes the interior struggle of every single character traversing its environment. At one point, it even becomes a hostile territory, almost a fatal one. What was supposed to be a merry reunion between colleagues and friends, transforms into a quiet nightmare. Quiet is the key, because the hostilities slowly boil up, we see how every actor in this cinematic-pièce is trying to smother his or her vexation according to their personality. The storm brews gently before it hits hard.
This trait of time dilation, within the long-simmering conflict, seems to be a praise of boredom. This is because the characters appear to be restlessly pervaded by ennui, within a naturalistic ambiance that forces them to come to terms with their existential conundrums — that would easily be distracted in a frantic urban setting. The atmosphere that is created by Lesage in Who By Fire, evokes the way Italian poet Giacomo Leopardi described this lethargic sentiment: “Boredom is the most sublime of all human emotions because it expresses the fact that the human spirit, in a certain sense, is greater than the entire universe. Boredom is an expression of a profound despair at not finding anything that can satisfy the soul’s boundless needs.”
Final Grade: B-