(Canada, 16 min.)
Written and directed by François Jaros
Starring: Karelle Tremblay, Frédérike Bédard, Catherine
Hughes, Tania Kontoyanni, Ellen David, Patrice Beauchesne, Louis Negin
Oh, what a wonderful feeling it is to experience an exciting
new Canadian director. Quebecois filmmaker François Jaros already has a steady
list of accomplishments in his career with back to back Jutra Gala
Cinema awards for the shorts Life’s a
Bitch (2014) and Maurice (2015), but
it’s nice to discover his work following its breakout on the international
scene. Jaros’s new Cannes debut Oh What a
Wonderful Feeling is a dark, allusive, and playfully demonic work of art.
The film is a Lynchian nightmare of foxes of all kinds. Oh What a Wonderful Feeling begins and ends with orange fiery deaths as the film kicks off with a suicidal fox and then ends with a bang. Chaos reigns, indeed.
More foxes appear and a little more banging happens at a
shady roadside harem in rural Quebec where a handful of truck stop hustlers
dances with a seductive army of dangerous desires. Amanda, played by Karelle
Tremblay of Les êtres chers, is the
newest girl on the market. Her strange night leads her behind bars with johns
and lingering under the safety of a lone streetlight. Weirdos prowl, men fight
like tomcats, and the workers sign a farewell card for a retiring colleague. Every
image harbours a laugh and a sense of dread, and piecing the film together is a
cautious balance of the absurd. It’s all very strange and surreal, but also
ominous and seductive.
The film has a dark, dense atmosphere thanks to the moody
cinematography by Oliver Gassot, particularly one specular shot that pans the
full 360 degrees of the roadside hellhole as violence breaks out and creepers
lurk within the shadows, while a brooding soundtrack keeps one on edge. Tremblay’s
strong screen presence, meanwhile, frequently carries the film with Amanda’s
vulnerability and willingness to explore dark places. Jaros unfurls this
largely silent puzzle in an elliptical dreamspace where images flow and
characters wander. This dreamlike drama feels detached from reality as Oh What a Wonderful Feeling puts the
audience in a nightmarish purgatory, suspended for sixteen minutes of curious reverie.
Oh What a Wonderful Feeling has its World Premiere at the 2016
Cannes Film Festival.
