INDICIBLE - REVIEW
INDICIBLE
Director : Vincent Dassaud
Starring : Olivier Robion (Pierre), Ambre Ogier (Émilie), Gaetan Lambert (la mort), Zaid Diaz (la vie)
Runtime : 81 minutes
Genre : Feature, Experimental
Digital - Color
Language : French
Country : France
2025
Storyline
A man suffering from narcolepsy suddenly falls down a staircase. This moment of collapse triggers a near-death experience, intertwining with the troubling manifestations of his illness. While his body remains inert, his consciousness slips out of the world. He plunges into an undefined space, composed of sensations, hazy memories, and altered perceptions. What he experiences is neither deep sleep nor clinical death: it is a territory between two worlds, fragile and dizzying.
© Vincent Dassaud
Indicible, directed by Vincent Dassaud and based on his own comic book, is a delirious and magnetic one-hour-and-twenty-minute cinematic experiment in which the viewer is immersed in the mind of a man, Pierre (Olivier Robion), momentarily taken by a near-death experience.
The images are rich and numerous, thanks to the careful editing and visual transition effects, creating a kind of cerebral hallucination. Time seems to defragment as the viewing progresses.
Despite the rather macabre synopsis at first glance, the film itself is a luminous object in which death lurks but never categorically overwhelms life. The film surprises with its unexpected shots. Madness, hope, and chaos intertwine.
© Vincent Dassaud
The movie has a naturalistic feel, thanks to the choice to focus on nature and minimalist sets. The aerial shots filmed with a drone create an almost documentary feel with their views of the city. We travel, we sail. We could thus mention the concept of Gaspar Noe's Enter the Void, but without emphasizing the saturated and contrasting colors. In Indicible, there is a poetic, romantic, and chivalrous lightness. Another point in common with Noe's film is the main character's voiceover, allowing us to directly enter his head. Plunged between the earthly and the spiritual, the protagonist guides us and then loses us; life seems to be nothing more than a dysfunctional game disrupted by the divine laws of the afterlife.
© Vincent Dassaud
We also notice a shift in situation leading to a certain form of offbeat humor, at times reminiscent of the world of David Lynch. We could cite Twin Peaks, but also Inland Empire, which was a stylistic exercise in which the natural was combined with an indescribable oddity.
Dassaud here demonstrates his sense of earthly existence and its limits.
Let's talk about the music, which is somewhat spectacular at times, creating a strange aspect through the minimalism of the images. A process similar to Gus Van Sant's Paranoid Park. In the latter, the young teenager, deeply questioning himself after accidentally killing a police officer, loses his mind and mixes up his thoughts, which he notes in his journal. The film's music contrasts with the images, reinforcing this idea of psychological confusion and inner unease. There are certain similarities in this regard.
© Vincent Dassaud
In conclusion, although experimental, Indicible remains an unidentifiable cinematic object that not leaves its viewer indifferent. Some mysteries remain unsolved, but no matter... these questions give the film its true meaning. The idea behind the film was not to adhere to cinematic conventions or to approximate popular audiovisual entertainment. On the contrary, it is an independent artistic work reserved for an audience that dares to reflect and abandon itself, leaving behind the usual passivity imposed by traditional cinema.
By Hallucinea Film Festival
