QUICK AND DIRTY: LIVE FROM LOCARNO

Virgil Vernier’s film is structured like a post-modern short story from the 20th century. Cent Mille MIllards isn’t necessarily a work about narration, but ideas, focus and thematic undertones. The central character, if there is one, is Afine (Zakaria Bouti), an 18-year-old “whore” who is complimented by young and old for his sumptous body. He spends Christmas 2022 with Vesna (Mina Gajovic), a Serbian-born therapist who dreams of setting up her own salon in Nice, and the girl she is babysitting, Julia (Victoire Kong) a pre-teen with a large smile that hides her menace (Julia set fire to her last boarding school.) Together, the three of them walk around Monaco, contemplating their dreams, goals and dissertations on humanity. The more time Afine spends with the pair, the more he questions his life of “nothingness.”

Stylistically, Cent Mille Millards follows the example set by Jean-Jacques Beineix on brooding works Diva (1981) and Betty Blue (1986). The camera captures the environment, the attention divided equally on the pastoral (long-winding montages set across the Monaco blue seas), and industrial (cranes tower over humans, twisting and turning with some unease.) Afine soaks it all in – he literally gazes at the camera at one point – internalising it in his own idiosyncratic way. He happens upon Julia’s notebook, where she has jotted down “A soldier breaks away from his unit to perform reconnaissance.” The words speak to him, causing him to reflect on his lifestyle choices. When Vesna calls him a “whore”, Afine doesn’t knock it down with a salty quip, but allows the hurt and disgust she projects onto him.

Clearly, he craves connection: the movie opens with a conversation with an an athlete, as the sportsman shows off a body that puts Afine’s more sylphlike shape to shame. Vernier’s opinion on sex work goes unaired, which is a pity because the director could have taken a more profound stance towards the profession. Eerily, Vesna heavily implies that Afine wishes to sleep with Julia, who is underage, and there are moments of friendship that could be interpreted by the viewer in such a vein. Julia reminds him of the times they spent together as “cute little kittens in the 17th century”, which makes the escort smile. Watching the film in 2024, it has an unfortunate taste of grooming, and while it may be another throwback to Beineix – Betty Blue is about teenager’s liaison with an older man – the undertone feels little sleazy for a film set during the 2020’s.

Of the three main leads, Vesna feels the most underdeveloped, and her function seems to be “look sultry and swagger with philosophical abandon”. On the plus side, Bouti truly sells the desolation, often through his eyes alone. Melancholy soaks the story, and the most any of these characters can hope for is a more prosperous new year; a literal definition of middle-class ennui.

Those who are craving an evocative and expressionistic work will find Cent Mille Millards an enjoyable watch, but anyone hoping for something with bite will find this a disappointing work. The film is a little antiquated in its delivery, a homage of sorts to a bygoner era. But when it works, it works fairly wonderfully, complete with some genuinely jaw-dropping close-ups, montages and long-shots.

Cent Mille Millards just premiered in the Official Competition of the 77th Locarno Film Festival.