Ravenous (2017 film)

Ravenous (French: Les Affamés) is a 2017 French-language Canadian horror film directed by Robin Aubert and starring Marc-André Grondin, Monia Chokri, Brigitte Poupart, Luc Proulx, Charlotte St-Martin and Micheline Lanctôt.[4] The film depicts the residents of a small town in rural Quebec as they deal with an outbreak leading to an attack by zombie-like persons.[4][5]

Ravenous
Theatrical poster
FrenchLes Affamés
Directed byRobin Aubert
Produced byStéphanie Morissette
Screenplay byRobin Aubert
StarringMarc-André Grondin
Monia Chokri
Brigitte Poupart
Luc Proulx
Charlotte St-Martin
Music byPierre-Philippe Côté
CinematographySteeve Desrosiers
Edited byFrancis Cloutier
Production
company
Le Maison de Prod
Distributed byLes Films Séville (Canada)
Netflix (International)
Release date
  • 8 September 2017 (2017-09-08) (TIFF)
[1]
  • 20 October 2017 (2017-10-20) (Canada)
Running time
96 minutes[2]
CountryCanada
LanguageFrench
Box office$182,883[3]

Ravenous was released to positive reviews for its social themes. It won the Toronto International Film Festival Award for Best Canadian Film and was nominated for five Canadian Screen Awards, including Best Motion Picture, winning Best Make-Up.

Plot

In the aftermath of a zombie-like outbreak, the rural regions of Quebec are decimated with few survivors remaining. Bonin and his friend Vézina patrol with shotguns, shooting the infected while amusing each other with doctor jokes. While out, Vézina is drawn out into the forest, surrounded, and attacked. Another survivor, wife and mother Céline, drives, alone, and kills the infected as she finds them with a machete. Céline wanders onto the property of two elderly, armed women, Therese and Pauline, who tell Céline to strip so they can see if she has been bitten. Upon seeing Céline is clean, they take her in.

Bonin meets Tania, a young woman with a bite mark, who swears she was bitten by a dog and not an infected. While Tania is initially tied down for safety reasons, Bonin unties her and drives her away as the infected close in. They pick up a little girl, Zoé. Bonin also spots infected in a field and spies on them. He observes that they are gathered around a stack of found objects they have assembled, in a mysterious ritual.

Bonin, Tania, and Zoé head back to Therese and Pauline's house, as Bonin knows them. Together, the group realizes the house is on the path of the infected invasion. As the infected swarm in, the group flees. They encounter two other survivors, the elderly former insurance agent Réal and the young Ti-Cul, who is armed with a rifle. The group unites and finds a cabin. Inside, they find a note from an anonymous survivor warning anyone who reads it to stay away from town and stating the author is looking for survivors on Quebec Route 113. Pauline is bitten and shot by Therese. Réal, having been bitten earlier, turns, bites Ti-Cul, and is dispatched by Céline, who also kills Ti-Cul before he can turn.

The advancing infected overrun the remaining survivors. Therese stays behind so Bonin can escape with Zoé and is killed. Surrounded, Céline begins hacking against the oncoming undead. Bonin gives Zoé to Tania and leads the infected away, as Tania hides Zoé in a tunnel and tells her Zoé is the strongest. Tania disappears as the infected continue to swarm. When Zoé emerges, she finds Bonin pointing his shotgun at his own head. Bonin tells her to go look for Tania, and Zoé sets off alone for Route 113, passing another infected-made structure. On the road, she is picked up by a survivor in a racecar (seen in the opening of the film) after warning him to not continue on the road.

In a post-credits scene, the newly zombified Bonin and Tania stand in front of a tower of stacked chairs on which stands a parrot.

Cast

Production

Aubert cited the cinema of Robert Bresson and Andrei Tarkovsky as influences.[6] Aubert cast Brigitte Poupart over Facebook, after asking her, without explaining he was working on a story about a zombie-like infection, "Oh, by the way, have you ever trapped an animal?"[7]

Release

Ravenous premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2017.[1] It was then featured at the Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas later in the month.[8][9] Netflix acquired the film and released it on 2 March 2018 outside Canada.[10]

Critical reception
The film's survival themes were compared to those in the 1968 zombie film Night of the Living Dead.

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 89% based on 27 reviews, with an average rating of 6.8/10.[11]

For The Montreal Gazette, T'cha Dunlevy praised the film as a successful reinvention of the zombie genre, and "At once wildly funny, philosophical, scary as heck when it has to be and boldly cinematic throughout".[7] In his review for The Globe and Mail, Robert Everett-Green judged The Ravenous as an allegory for Quebec politics, saying Aubert invented a culture for the zombies, complete with their own goods and hints of a zombie religion. They become an invading threat to the culture of Quebec, tied into the Battle of the Plains of Abraham and the contemporary debate over the niqab, including Bill 62, Everett-Green wrote.[6] Chantal Guy awarded Ravenous four stars in La Presse, and argued it featured themes of survival found in previous zombie cinema such as Night of the Living Dead, adding commentary about social identity and how society is already being "zombified".[12]

In December, TIFF named the film to its annual Canada's Top Ten list of the ten best Canadian films.[13]

Accolades

At TIFF, the film won the award for Best Canadian Film.[14]

Award Date of ceremony Category Recipient(s) Result Ref(s)
Canadian Screen Awards 11 March 2018 Best Motion Picture Stéphanie Morissette Nominated [15]
Best Director Robin Aubert Nominated
Best Supporting Actress Brigitte Poupart Nominated
Best Original Score Pierre-Philippe Côté Nominated
Best Make-Up Érik Gosselin, Marie-France Guy Won [16]
Festival du nouveau cinéma 2017 Temps Audience Award Robin Aubert Won [7]
Prix Iris 3 June 2018 Best Film Stéphanie Morissette Won [17][18]
Best Director Robin Aubert Won
Best Supporting Actress Brigitte Poupart Won
Micheline Lanctôt Nominated
Best Sound Jean-Sébastien Beaudoin Gagnon, Stéphane Bergeron, Olivier Calvert Won [19]
Best Original Score Pierre-Philippe Côté Won
Best Make-Up Érik Gosselin, Marie-France Guy Won
Best Visual Effects Jean-François "Jafaz" Ferland Won
Most Successful Film Outside Quebec Robin Aubert Won
Toronto International Film Festival 7 – 17 September 2017 Best Canadian Film Won [14]
gollark: Thing is, even if you *mention* communism - say, when criticizing it - you experience spam.
gollark: Maybe add throttling.
gollark: communism
gollark: What's the "cerebrate#5337" bit at the top, then? The operator?
gollark: !about

References
  1. Dunlevy, T'cha (9 September 2017). "TIFF: Zombies stalk rural Quebec in Robin Aubert's Les affamés". The Montreal Gazette. Postmedia Network. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
  2. "Les Affamés". Toronto International Film Festival. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
  3. "Top 5 Canadian Films at the Canadian Box Office Nov. 24 to Nov. 30 2017" (PDF). Playback. Brunico Communications. Retrieved 2 February 2018.
  4. Mintzer, Jordan (12 September 2017). "'Ravenous' ('Les affames'): Film Review: TIFF 2017". The Hollywood Reporter. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
  5. Leydon, Joe (12 September 2017). "Toronto Film Review: 'The Ravenous'". Variety. Penske Business Media. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
  6. Everett-Green, Robert (20 October 2017). "Zombie film echoes Quebec's cultural fears". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
  7. Dunlevy, T'cha (19 October 2017). "Fighting zombies, Quebec style: Les affamés has hit potential". The Montreal Gazette. Postmedia Network. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
  8. Collis, Clark (6 September 2017). "Watch an extreme scene from TIFF zombie film Les Affamés". Entertainment Weekly. Time. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
  9. Ersoy, Evrim. "Les Affames". Fantastic Fest. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
  10. Tartaglione, Nancy (1 February 2018). "Netflix Acquires 'Les Affamés'; Horror Pic Won TIFF's Best Canadian Feature Prize". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Business Media. Retrieved 1 February 2018.
  11. "Ravenous (Les affamés) (2018)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
  12. Guy, Chantal (20 October 2017). "Les affamés: terreur pastorale ****". La Presse (in French). Retrieved 27 October 2017.
  13. Wilner, Norman (6 December 2017). "Canada's Top Ten has some glaring omissions". Now. NOW Communications. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
  14. Vlessing, Etan (17 September 2017). "Toronto: 'Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri' Captures Audience Award". The Hollywood Reporter. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
  15. "Film Nominees". Canadian Screen Awards. Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
  16. Smith, Charlie (11 March 2018). "Maudie, Kim's Convenience, Ava, Alias Grace, and Rumble among major winners at Canadian Screen Awards". The Georgia Straight. Vancouver Free Press. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  17. "Finalistes Gala 2018". Prix Iris (in French). Québec Cinéma. 10 April 2018. Retrieved 10 April 2018.
  18. "Les affamés et Robin Aubert triomphent au Gala Québec Cinéma" (in French). Radio-Canada. 3 June 2018. Retrieved 3 June 2018.
  19. Pradier, Samuel (29 May 2018). "Gala Artisans Québec Cinéma: cinq Iris pour "Les affamés"". Le Journal de Montreal (in French). Retrieved 31 May 2018.
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