In Full Fire: “Surreal Ending,” “A Thriller Both Original and Suspenseful”… This is the hottest movie this week!

In Full Fire: “Surreal Ending,” “A Thriller Both Original and Suspenseful”… This is the hottest movie this week!

What is it about? A giant fire destroys the Landes forest. After the evacuation alarm goes off, Simon and his father Joseph leave the house, but quickly find themselves trapped in their car in the middle of this climatic nightmare. The fire is getting closer. What should I do ? Are you waiting for help…? Or will they not find a way out to go even deeper into the terrifying vastness of the burning forest?

The birth of the project

Quentin Reynaud shot En plein feu in the heart of the summer of 2021 in the Landes, one of France’s most devastated forests in 2022. The director suspected that this type of disaster would be widespread due to global warming. He recalls:

“I then developed a fascination with fire stories (visual or written) because they made me realize that no matter what we do, we are left at the mercy of the elements and that no matter what man-made protection or evacuation systems are in place. We are pushing too hard, nature has a way of responding with phenomenal force.”

“I’m from Bordeaux and I’m very familiar with the Landes forests, which, along with the Var forests, are the most affected by fire. Planted under Napoleon III on swamps to drain them, these forests consist of tall pines. I started imagining my scenario, these trees suddenly seemed to me a metaphor for a prison.”

Andre Dusolier and Alex Lutz

Common ground with Wes Anderson?

Shooting was not dangerous, but difficult. Quentin Reynaud and his team shot in two different locations north of Landes, south of Gironde. They then settled in Angoulême, the studio where Wes Anderson filmed The French Dispatch.

“Our production designer recreated about 80 meters of the actual Landes Road, on which we had already shot the beginning of the sequence where Simon and Joseph are in their car on fire. It was much more practical to deal with the lighting and the fire.”the film director recalls.

Alex Lutz

Reunion with Alex Lutz!

Paris-Willouby and especially after the 5th set, Quentin Reynaud had only one wish: to work with Alex Lutz again: “We both formed a pretty strong bond. We support each other. One day he made this sentence that pissed me off (I take his words back): ‘If you need me, tell me what time and where and I’ll come.’ So I wrote Simon’s character in his mind “.

Andre Dusollier and Alex Lutz

The paradox of fire

During the research phase, Quentin Reynaud discovered a large number of GoPro videos taken by individuals surrounded by California wildfires. In these pictures, he was impressed by the calmness of these people who were facing the fire (although they had not the slightest confidence in getting out of it):

“I tried to reproduce in my film a calmness that seemed quite crazy when you find yourself in such a situation. This situation can create a feeling that the film is not realistic, and paradoxically, the reality was even more difficult to believe. “– says the director.

Alex Lutz and Andre Dusolier

Building a scenario

Quentin Reynaud based his script on the outline of the play. It opens with a kind of prologue, a face-off that aims to reveal that the bridges between Simon (Alex Lutz) and Joseph (Andre Dusollier) are broken: “Then comes the first part, very realistic, with a gigantic fire that forces this father and this son to flee, both together, in the same car. The violence of their fear will break down psychological barriers and save them.”

“We’re in a movie right now, both behind closed doors and in a disaster movie, a tragedy of men trapped in something terrible that they don’t know how to get out of… There’s a second part coming.” , which moves to fantasy and poetry, where Simon, freed from his father and the weight of the unspeakable, decides to try at all costs, despite the danger, to find a way to make it happen. Get out of this burning forest. “The director explains and adds:

“During these wanderings, whether real or imaginary (the viewer can choose), he encounters irrationally disturbed firemen and revisits, as in a nightmarish dream, several episodes of his former family life…

Source: Allocine

You may also like