Evolution (Lucile Hadzihalilovic, 2015): France|Spain|Belgium

Reviewed by: Cameron Krul. Viewed at the AFI Fest 2015.

 Lucile Hadžihalilović’s strong feature is set in a small closed off seaside community of white buildings built on black sand surrounded by volcanic rock that only young boys, and pale women wearing beige dresses live. No men live in this town, which makes one wonder what the women do with the boys before they become men. Nicholas (played byMax Brebant) is a curious young boy who lives in this town, and starts to question the mysterious practices of the women when he finds a drowned boy in the ocean one day. His mother tries to cover it up, and convince Nicholas that there was no dead body in the ocean, but Nicholas doesn’t buy it, and grows more curious.

He begins to wonder what the women do at night when they leave the village and go to the beach so he decided to go out and follow them by himself one night, and what he finds is disturbing to him. Nicholas stumbles upon the women of the village performing some sort of weird group sex ritual on the sand, in which they rub they’re naked bodies on each other, and new born babies are produced. Nicholas quickly hurries home to make it back to bed before the women come back to town, and later that night after his mother arrives home he sees her back while she is taking a shower, and discovers that the women of this town have suction cups on their back.

Nicholas and the rest of the boys find themselves being taken to an old unwelcoming hospital where they are made to believe that they are sick. In reality the women are keeping the boys there to run mysterious procedures on them. Which only makes young Nicholas question the women, and their mysterious ways even more.

Evolution is a truly unique film that provokes thought, and creates an eerie, creepy and sometimes disturbed feeling in the viewer. This movie is loaded with striking imagery, but none of it is meant to shock. Evolution is an inspiring and maybe even sweet story of a frightened young person finding comfort from an unexpected source.