QUICK’N DIRTY: LIVE FROM VENICE
At some point in the a near(ish) future, Paris is strictly divided into three areas. Zone 3 is inhabited by the neglected masses: the poor, the drugged and the marginalised. Zone 2 is a far more comfortable place to live, with dwellers enjoying a happy and functional life mostly devoid of conflict. Zone 1 remains highly elusive. Social ascension is virtually impossible, unless you win a television show called Destiny. Such is the case with Salia (Adèle Exarchopoulos). She is now a diligent police officer, with an unshakeable commitment to law and order.
Salia and Zem (Gilles Lellouche) are in charge of a crucial murder investigation. They must find out who killed George Kessel, the man who invented Alma AI. The technology is responsible for securing the impenetrable walls that reshaped the French capital, as well as the highly advanced surveillance systems that allows the increasingly tyrannical government to control every step of the citizens. Each person is required to wear a bracelet at all times, with offenders risking an invasive eye scan as well as a hefty prison sentence. Cinema has explored Orwellian authoritarianism to exhaustion, from Terry Gilliam’s Brazil (1985) and John Carpenter’s They Live (1988) to Aude Léa Rapin’s far more recent Planet B (2024; also a French film). Dog 51 does not brave uncharted waters, however it does insert some new flavours into the recipe.
A man called Mafram from a revolutionary organisation called WallBreaks promptly claims the assassination of Kessel, but Salia and Zem believe that there are more things in heaven and earth. They must carefully navigate a network of underground criminals, while also contending with a government they cannot trust, and a powerful technology that has become larger than life, and is being used for very nefarious purposes.
Dog 51 repeatedly nods to Luc Besson’s classic The Fifth Element (1991) with its futuristic aesthetic. The set is bright with beaming lights, and populated with vivid colours. Some of the costumes are highly elaborated (particularly during an elite party in Zone 2, featuring an extravagant combination of haute couture, fetish and carnival gear). Even Exarchopoulos and Lellouche’s haircuts are vaguely reminiscent of Milla Jovovich’s and Bruce Willis’s characters (minus the bright orange of the Ukranian-born actress’s coiffure).
Cédric Jimenez’s sixth feature film comes with a whopping price tag of €42 million, and a star-studded cast also including Louis Garrel, Romain Duris and Valeria Bruni Tedeschi. The special effects are very advanced, if also derivative. Car chases in the wrong direction, murderous drones (also known in real life as “lethal autonomous weapons”) and underwater escapes are amongst the familiar ingredients of a modern-day thriller. But this isn’t just silly bang-bang and cheap adrenaline rushes. A groovy soundtrack also helps to energise the film. It includes a very bizarre rendition of 4 Non Blondes’s classic What’s Up, delivered by the two leads.
This is a movie dotted with Marxist notions. It suggests that a revolutionary ideal can transcend life, and become immortalised along with the name of the person who championed it. And it demonstrates that socio-political transformation can only be obtained through collective action and civil disobedience. A little twist at the end demonstrates that the dark forces of oppression have novel ways of reinventing themselves, and that it may take the good ol’ French revolutionary spirit to turn things around.
Dog 51 just premiered in the 82nd Venice International Film Festival.
