The Five Devils

The Five Devils has a somewhat absurd premise that quality visuals and the always excellent Adèle Exarchopoulos really bolsters. These quality elements help sell this magical realist story about the bisexual agenda: adultery, acrobatics and arson.

Vicky is an unusual child. She’s quiet, perceptive and perhaps overly attached to her mother, Joanne. But that’s not what makes her unusual. Vicky has a strange, powerful sense of smell. Not only is it overly acute, but Vicky develops the ability to enter the past or at least, memories of it via specific smells. Vicky’s home life is interrupted by the arrival of her aunt, Julia. Julia and Joanne have a much more complicated past than just Julia being Joanna’s husband’s sister. And then Vicky begins to delve into this history via her sense of smell. But what Vicky finds in the past frequently upsets her. And in the present, Joanne and Julia still have a lot of unresolved chemistry between them.

There are so many absurd, reductive ways to summarize The Five Devils. And it’s a fun exercise. The Five Devils is about learning your mom is bisexual in the worst way possible. The Five Devils is about a homophobic child. This movie heard the word “nosy” and took it literally. The fact that The Five Devils lends itself to such summaries is a plus. It means there’s stuff, and weird stuff at that going on. As fun as these reductive summaries are, they do a disservice to the fact that the film actually has a level of complexity. Especially when looking at it as a portrait of sexuality or reaction to sexuality, it would be overly reductive to take this movie as having any sort of commentary about these broader conditions. The Five Devils is more of an ambitious exploration of messy people that can’t be categorized quite so easily.

What also helps keep me from lingering on all the ways I could make punchlines out of this story is the visuals and performances. Or, performance. Ice cold take, but Adèle Exarchopoulos is really good at acting. The amount of vulnerability she brings to her performances is extraordinary. She gives her all to every emotion, movement and anything else she can give to the camera. And in The Five Devils, the camera gives back. The film places Adèle in richly coloured, brilliantly designed sets and knows just how to utilize a closeup. These two factors make the film more gripping than it needed to be. Adèle’s performance can’t be looked away from and the cinematography constantly rewards you for continuing to look.

I’ve complained in the past about magical realism as a genre. It’s not usually my thing. But I didn’t have that issue with The Five Devils. Like most things, it’s a matter of something being done well. And The Five Devils was done really well. At its core, the film is a messy, emotional relationship drama. One that would be interesting enough to watch on its own. The addition of the fantastical element isn’t necessary, but welcome. It’s a great way to experience flashbacks and show more creativity in both writing and visually depicting events.

Overall rating: 7.2/10

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