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The Five Devils

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The Five Devils
Theatrical release poster
FrenchLes Cinq Diables
Directed byLéa Mysius
Screenplay by
  • Léa Mysius
  • Paul Guilhaume
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyPaul Guilhaume
Edited byMarie Loustalot
Music byFlorencia Di Concilio
Production
companies
  • F comme Film
  • Trois Brigands Productions
Distributed byLe Pacte
Release dates
  • 23 May 2022 (2022-05-23) (Cannes)
  • 31 August 2022 (2022-08-31) (France)
Running time
95 minutes
CountryFrance
LanguageFrench
Budget€3.4 million[1]
Box office$497,028[2]

The Five Devils (French: Les Cinq Diables) is a 2022 French fantasy drama film directed by Léa Mysius, who co-wrote the screenplay with Paul Guilhaume. The film stars Adèle Exarchopoulos and Sally Dramé. It premiered in the Directors' Fortnight section of the Cannes Film Festival on 23 May 2022. It was released in France on 31 August 2022.

Premise

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Vicky has a magical gift: she can smell and reproduce any scent of her choosing. She collects these in carefully labelled jars. The solitary child has a very strong bond with her mother Joanne, whose scent she also captures. When her father's sister Julia, who has recently been released from prison, enters their lives, Vicky also begins to reproduce her scent. Vicky is transported back in time into dark and magical memories, leading her to discover the past love affair between her mother and Julia, the secrets of her village, and her own existence.

Cast

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Production

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The Five Devils is Léa Mysius's second feature film as director, following Ava in 2017. Mysius co-wrote the film's screenplay with its cinematographer Paul Guilhaume.

The film was produced by Fanny Yvonnet for Trois Brigands Productions and by Jean-Louis Livi for F comme Film, both of whom previously produced Ava. The Five Devils benefited from production support from Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Cinéma (and support from the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region itself), pre-sales from Canal+ and Ciné+, and support from the Île-de-France region.[3]

Filming was set to begin in March 2020,[3][4] but was interrupted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Filming resumed in March 2021 and lasted seven weeks.[5][6] Filming took place in Isère between 1–24 March 2021, in the commune Le Bourg-d'Oisans and at Lac Bleu.[7][8] Shooting continued in the Île-de-France region, including the Michel-Beaufort swimming pool in Bondy on 31 March and 1 April 2021.[9] Filming wrapped in Paris on 16 April 2021.[7]

Release

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The Five Devils had its world premiere in the Directors' Fortnight section of the Cannes Film Festival on 23 May 2022,[10][11] where it received a five-minute standing ovation.[12] It was released theatrically in France on 31 August 2022 by Le Pacte.[3][13] International sales are handled by Wild Bunch.[3] In a deal negotiated by Wild Bunch, Mubi acquired The Five Devils for North America, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Latin America, India and Turkey.[14] Mubi gave the film a limited theatrical release in the United States, United Kingdom and Ireland on 24 March 2023.[15][16] The film was released exclusively on Mubi's streaming platform from 12 May 2023.[17][14]

Reception

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Box office

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The Five Devils grossed $336,025 in France and $161,003 in other territories, for a worldwide total of $497,028.[2]

In France, the film opened alongside Everything Everywhere All at Once, La Dégustation, Both Sides of the Blade and La Page blanche. The film sold 4,922 admissions on its first day, [18] 485 of which were preview screenings. It went on to sell 25,906 admissions in its opening weekend. At the end of its theatrical run, the film sold a total of 71,833 admissions.[19]

Critical response

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On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 85% based on 75 reviews, with an average rating of 7/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Overflowing with ideas as it moves across genres, The Five Devils uses intoxicating magical realism to explore a family's troubled past."[20] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 68 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[21] The Five Devils received an average rating of 3.2 out of 5 stars on the French website AlloCiné, based on 31 reviews.[22]

Jordan Mintzer of The Hollywood Reporter assessed the film as having too many elements, criticising screenwriters Mysius and Guilhaume for infusing an "otherwise compelling and intimate tragedy with elements of witchcraft, the supernatural and time travel that feel like they belong in another film—whether it's by Shyamalan or Robert Eggers, or something from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Rather than enhancing the intrigue, the genre components wind up diluting it, and when the two sides of the movie ultimately come together, the impact feels blunted".[23]

Writing for Deadline Hollywood, Valerie Complex was mostly positive on the film, but criticised the way it depicted its Black characters, writing, "There are many movies with Black protagonists at Cannes, but Black people direct none [...] Julia and Jimmy aren't given much agency. They exist as a platform for Joanne, who uses them to elevate herself [...] And the hair. Look, Black hairstylists need to be consulted and hired to give Black characters decent-looking hairstyles. Unkempt hair and bad wigs plague Black actresses on sets, and The Five Devils falls into this trap. Films have to start investing in the complete aesthetic of Blackness, and that means getting people who can bring the most authenticity to a character".[12]

Jake Cole of Slant Magazine praised the film, stating it "feels like the work of a much more seasoned filmmaker" and that Mysius' filmmaking "exudes an exquisite command of atmosphere and aesthetic language".[24]

Accolades

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Award Date of ceremony Category Recipient(s) Result Ref.
Cannes Film Festival 27 May 2022 Queer Palm Léa Mysius Nominated [25]
César Awards 24 February 2023 Best Visual Effects Guillaume Marien Nominated [26]
Dublin International Film Festival 4 March 2023 Best Director Léa Mysius Won [27]
Fantastic Fest 27 September 2022 Best Picture (Next Wave Competition) The Five Devils Won [28]

References

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  1. ^ "Les Cinq Diables". JP Box-Office (in French). Retrieved 2 April 2023.
  2. ^ a b "The Five Devils (2022)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
  3. ^ a b c d Lemercier, Fabien (6 March 2020). "The first clapperboard is set to slam on Léa Mysius's The Five Devils". Cineuropa. Retrieved 8 November 2023.
  4. ^ "À vos CV : la directrice de casting du film "Les Cinq diables" avec Adèle Exarchopoulos cherche des figurants locaux" (in French). France 3 Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. 27 February 2020. Retrieved 11 May 2022.
  5. ^ ""Les Cinq diables" de Léa Mysius en tournage". Le Film français (in French). 4 March 2021. Retrieved 11 May 2022.
  6. ^ Jimenez, Esteban (9 March 2020). "Bientôt en tournage : 'Les Cinq Diables', le prochain film de Léa Mysius avec Adèle Exarchopoulos et Noée Abita". Trois couleurs (in French). Retrieved 11 May 2022.
  7. ^ a b "Films en post-production" (in French). Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Cinéma. 6 April 2022. Archived from the original on 14 May 2022. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
  8. ^ "Le Bourg-d'Oisans. La commune accueillera les équipes de tournage du film "Les Cinq diables"". Le Dauphiné libéré (in French). 25 February 2021. Retrieved 11 May 2022.
  9. ^ "Adèle Exarchopoulos en tournage à la piscine Michel Beaufort à Bondy". Est ensemble (in French). 1 April 2021. Retrieved 11 May 2022.
  10. ^ "LIVE: The Cannes' Directors' Fortnight announces its selection". Cineuropa. 19 April 2022. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
  11. ^ "Les horaires des projections 2022" (in French). Cannes Film Festival. 11 May 2022. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 May 2022. Retrieved 11 May 2022.
  12. ^ a b Complex, Valerie (24 May 2022). "Cannes Review: Léa Mysius' Directors' Fortnight Film 'The Five Devils'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
  13. ^ Barnett, Emily (4 September 2022). ""Les cinq diables" de Léa Mysius : le talent magique d'Adèle Exarchopoulos". Marie Claire (in French). Retrieved 11 September 2022.
  14. ^ a b Ritman, Alex (9 May 2022). "Cannes: Mubi Acquires Directors' Fortnight Title 'The Five Devils' (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 12 May 2022.
  15. ^ Bradshaw, Peter (21 March 2023). "The Five Devils review – superpower sense of smell in intriguingly weird psychodrama". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 March 2023.
  16. ^ Patton, Elaina (4 March 2023). "The most entertaining and bingeworthy queer content arriving in March". NBC News. Retrieved 28 March 2023.
  17. ^ Bergeson, Samantha (27 February 2023). "'The Five Devils' Trailer: Adèle Exarchopoulos Casts a Spell in Witchy Queer Love Story". IndieWire. Retrieved 28 March 2023.
  18. ^ Colon, Tanguy (1 September 2022). "Box-office 1er jour : La Dégustation et Everything Everywhere All at Once dans un mouchoir". Boxoffice Pro (in French). Retrieved 2 April 2023.
  19. ^ "Les Cinq Diables". JP Box-Office (in French). Retrieved 5 June 2023.
  20. ^ "The Five Devils". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 24 July 2024.
  21. ^ "The Five Devils". Metacritic. Retrieved 26 August 2024.
  22. ^ "Critiques Presse pour le film Les Cinq Diables". AlloCiné (in French). Retrieved 8 November 2023.
  23. ^ Mintzer, Jordan (23 May 2022). "'The Five Devils' ('Les Cinq diables'): Film Review | Cannes 2022". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
  24. ^ Cole, Jake (2 March 2023). "'The Five Devils' Review: Let's Do the Existential Time Warp Again". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
  25. ^ "Cannes 2022 : les films en lice pour la Queer Palm" (in French). CNC. 10 May 2022. Retrieved 27 January 2023.
  26. ^ Jamet, Constance (25 January 2023). "César: La Nuit du 12, En Corps, L'Innocent, en tête des nominations". Le Figaro (in French). Retrieved 27 January 2023.
  27. ^ Clarke, Donald (6 March 2023). "Dublin International Film Festival: The moving My Sailor, My Love named best Irish movie". The Irish Times. Retrieved 17 March 2023.
  28. ^ Taylor, Drew (27 September 2022). "Fantastic Fest Awards Winners: 'Piggy,' 'The Five Devils' and 'The Menu' Take Top Honors (Exclusive)". TheWrap.
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