Les Signes Vitaux (Sophie Deraspe, 2009): Canada

Reviewed by Nitsa Pomerleau. Viewed at the Santa Barbara Film Festival 2010.

This film begins at the end. What? Like Middle Men? No, not by any stretch of the imagination. Vital Signs begins at The End— death—and pretty much stays there for the next 90 minutes. Québec’s Sophie Deraspe directs her second feature with a realism that dissolves any romanticism around the act of dying. Cinematically speaking, this death does not play chess.

Deraspe probes the meaning of mortality through the character Simone, a young woman who leaves Harvard after the death of her grandmother and who begins to volunteer at the bedsides of the dying. As Simone gives herself to the sick and elderly (who are in morbid re-supply) it becomes clear that her disconnect from her own life (and très Québécois rockstar boyfriend) is the real killer.

There are some creative twists (handicaps and questionable murder) but the bulk of the film relies upon character development, and since the supporting cast mostly just dies, the story is left in the hands of Simone, who drifts between life and death in nihilistic woe. Interestingly, as Deraspe revealed in our discussion, she actually wrote the script  for then non-actress Marie-Helene Bellavance after seeing her inspirational performance as a “visual artist”. Risky, yes, but the  seemingly effortless vulnerability and depth in Bellavance’s portrayal of Simone is penetrating and proof of Deraspe’s directorial intuition.

Furthermore, Deraspe’s ability to recreate a natural ambiance in film is remarkable(and I suspect it stems from her background in documentary). As writer, director, and DP, Deraspe composes continuity in dialogue, acting, and cinematography that lets this film sink into a pensive and serious tone. From the onset we are aware that the message is to live life fully, but we must experience Simone’s subdued journey of self-discovery to understand the why and how… and for those of you who are still worrying: the people were only acting like they were dying!

On a lighter note, the musical interludes are glorious. Just as the synthesizer-induced death rattle grows unbearable, the film cuts to a quirky Coen Brothers-ish character as he takes the institution stage to perform a deadpan number on the electric guitar or croon a dreamily demented version of “Under the Sea” . The bright, upbeat colors of these straight-on shots juxtaposed with the bluish, sterility of the suspended-angle deathbed scenes bring necessary comic relief.

Listening to Sophie Deraspe describe her flexible  approach to filmmaking and consequently watching her creative vision made me very proud of my country (a country that pays its artists!). Yet walking away from Les Signes Vitaux, I remain unconvinced as to why we need to reproduce the real world—and death—when it is already here..?