The Five Devils

The Five Devils (French: Les Cinq Diables) is a 2022 French fantasy drama film directed by Léa Mysius, who co-wrote the screenplay with Paul Guilhaume. The film stars Adèle Exarchopoulos and Sally Dramé. It premiered in the Directors' Fortnight section of the Cannes Film Festival on 23 May 2022. It was released in France on 31 August 2022.

The Five Devils
Theatrical release poster
FrenchLes Cinq Diables
Directed byLéa Mysius
Screenplay by
  • Paul Guilhaume
  • Léa Mysius
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyPaul Guilhaume
Edited byMarie Loustalot
Music byFlorencia Di Concilio
Production
companies
  • F comme Film
  • Trois Brigands Productions
Distributed byLe Pacte
Release dates
  • 23 May 2022 (2022-05-23) (Cannes)
  • 31 August 2022 (2022-08-31) (France)
Running time
95 minutes
CountryFrance
LanguageFrench
Budget€3.4 million[1]
Box office$497,028[2]

Premise

Vicky has a magical gift: she can smell and reproduce any scent of her choosing. She collects these in carefully labelled jars. The solitary child has a very strong bond with her mother Joanne, whose scent she also secretly captures. When her father's sister Julia appears into their life, Vicky also begins to reproduce her scent. Julia has recently been released from prison, and Vicky is transported into dark and magical memories which lead her to discover the secrets of her village, her family and her own existence.

Cast

Production

The Five Devils is Léa Mysius's second feature film as director, following Ava in 2017. Mysius co-wrote the film's screenplay with its cinematographer Paul Guilhaume.

The film was produced by Fanny Yvonnet for Trois Brigands Productions and by Jean-Louis Livi for F comme Film, both of whom previously produced Ava. The Five Devils benefited from production support from Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Cinéma (and support from the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region itself), pre-sales from Canal+ and Ciné+, and support from the Île-de-France region.[3]

Filming was set to begin in March 2020,[3][4] but was interrupted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Filming resumed in March 2021 and lasted seven weeks.[5][6] Filming took place in Isère between 1–24 March 2021, in the commune Le Bourg-d'Oisans and at Lac Bleu.[7][8] Shooting continued in the Île-de-France region, including the Michel-Beaufort swimming pool in Bondy on 31 March and 1 April 2021.[9] Filming wrapped in Paris on 16 April 2021.[7]

Release

The Five Devils was selected to be screened in the Directors' Fortnight section at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival.[10] It had its world premiere at Cannes on 23 May 2022,[11] where it received a five minute standing ovation.[12] It was theatrically released in France on 31 August 2022.[13] French distribution is handled by Le Pacte and international sales are handled by Wild Bunch.[3] In a deal negotiated by Wild Bunch, Mubi acquired The Five Devils for North America, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Latin America, India and Turkey.[14] Mubi gave the film a limited theatrical release in the United States, United Kingdom and Ireland on 24 March 2023.[15][16] The film was released exclusively on Mubi's streaming platform from 12 May 2023.[17][14]

Reception

Box office

The Five Devils grossed $336,025 in France, and $161,003 in other territories, for a worldwide total of $497,028.[2]

In France, the film opened alongside Everything Everywhere All at Once, La Dégustation, Both Sides of the Blade and La Page blanche. The film sold 4,922 admissions on its first day, [18] 485 of which were preview screenings. It went on to sell 25,906 admissions in its opening weekend. At the end of its theatrical run, the film sold a total of 71,833 admissions.[19]

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 87% based on 70 reviews, with an average rating of 6.9/10. The website's consensus reads, "Overflowing with ideas as it moves across genres, The Five Devils uses intoxicating magical realism to explore a family's troubled past."[20] According to Metacritic, which assigned a weighted average score of 68 out of 100 based on 19 critics, the film received "generally favorable reviews".[21] The Five Devils received an average rating of 3.2 out of 5 stars on the French website AlloCiné, based on 31 reviews.[22]

Jordan Mintzer of The Hollywood Reporter assessed the film as having too many elements, criticizing screenwriters Mysius and Guilhaume for infusing an "otherwise compelling and intimate tragedy with elements of witchcraft, the supernatural and time travel that feel like they belong in another film — whether it's by Shyamalan or Robert Eggers, or something from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Rather than enhancing the intrigue, the genre components wind up diluting it, and when the two sides of the movie ultimately come together, the impact feels blunted."[23]

Writing for Deadline Hollywood, Valerie Complex was mostly positive on the film, but criticized the way it depicted its Black characters, writing, "There are many movies with Black protagonists at Cannes, but Black people direct none [...] Julia and Jimmy aren't given much agency. They exist as a platform for Joanne, who uses them to elevate herself [...] And the hair. Look, Black hairstylists need to be consulted and hired to give Black characters decent-looking hairstyles. Unkempt hair and bad wigs plague Black actresses on sets, and The Five Devils falls into this trap. Films have to start investing in the complete aesthetic of Blackness, and that means getting people who can bring the most authenticity to a character".[12]

Jake Cole of Slant Magazine praised the film, stating it "feels like the work of a much more seasoned filmmaker" and that Mysius' filmmaking "exudes an exquisite command of atmosphere and aesthetic language".[24]

Accolades
Awards and nominations for The Five Devils
Award Date of ceremony Category Recipient(s) Result Ref.
Cannes Film Festival 27 May 2022 Queer Palm Léa Mysius Nominated [25]
Fantastic Fest 27 September 2022 Best Picture (Next Wave Competition) The Five Devils Won [26]
César Awards 24 February 2023 Best Visual Effects Guillaume Marien Nominated [27]
Dublin International Film Festival 4 March 2023 Best Director Léa Mysius Won [28]

References
  1. "Les Cinq Diables". JP Box Office (in French). Retrieved 2 April 2023.
  2. "The Five Devils (2022)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
  3. Lemercier, Fabien (6 March 2020). "Premier clap imminent pour Les Cinq Diables de Léa Mysius". Cineuropa (in French). Retrieved 11 May 2022.
  4. "À vos CV : la directrice de casting du film "Les Cinq diables" avec Adèle Exarchopoulos cherche des figurants locaux" (in French). France 3 Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. 27 February 2020. Retrieved 11 May 2022.
  5. ""Les Cinq diables" de Léa Mysius en tournage". Le Film français (in French). 4 March 2021. Retrieved 11 May 2022.
  6. Jimenez, Esteban (9 March 2020). "Bientôt en tournage : 'Les Cinq Diables', le prochain film de Léa Mysius avec Adèle Exarchopoulos et Noée Abita". Trois couleurs (in French). Retrieved 11 May 2022.
  7. "Films en post-production" (in French). Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Cinéma. 6 April 2022. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
  8. "Le Bourg-d'Oisans. La commune accueillera les équipes de tournage du film "Les Cinq diables"". Le Dauphiné libéré (in French). 25 February 2021. Retrieved 11 May 2022.
  9. "Adèle Exarchopoulos en tournage à la piscine Michel Beaufort à Bondy". Est ensemble (in French). 1 April 2021. Retrieved 11 May 2022.
  10. "LIVE: The Cannes' Directors' Fortnight announces its selection". Cineuropa. 19 April 2022. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
  11. "Les horaires des projections 2022" (PDF) (in French). Cannes Film Festival. 11 May 2022. Retrieved 11 May 2022.
  12. Complex, Valerie (24 May 2022). "Cannes Review: Léa Mysius' Directors' Fortnight Film 'The Five Devils'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
  13. Barnett, Emily (4 September 2022). ""Les cinq diables" de Léa Mysius : le talent magique d'Adèle Exarchopoulos". Marie Claire (in French). Retrieved 11 September 2022.
  14. Ritman, Alex (9 May 2022). "Cannes: Mubi Acquires Directors' Fortnight Title 'The Five Devils' (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 12 May 2022.
  15. Bradshaw, Peter (21 March 2023). "The Five Devils review – superpower sense of smell in intriguingly weird psychodrama". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 March 2023.
  16. Patton, Elaina (4 March 2023). "The most entertaining and bingeworthy queer content arriving in March". NBC News. Retrieved 28 March 2023.
  17. Bergeson, Samantha (27 February 2023). "'The Five Devils' Trailer: Adèle Exarchopoulos Casts a Spell in Witchy Queer Love Story". IndieWire. Retrieved 28 March 2023.
  18. Colon, Tanguy (1 September 2022). "Box-office 1er jour : La Dégustation et Everything Everywhere All at Once dans un mouchoir". boxofficepro.fr (in French). Retrieved 2 April 2023.
  19. "Les Cinq Diables". JP Box Office (in French). Retrieved 5 June 2023.
  20. "The Five Devils". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
  21. "The Five Devils Reviews". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved 5 June 2023.
  22. "Critiques Presse pour le film Les Cinq Diables". AlloCiné (in French). Retrieved 17 May 2023.
  23. Mintzer, Jordan (23 May 2022). "'The Five Devils' ('Les Cinq diables'): Film Review | Cannes 2022". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
  24. Cole, Jake (2 March 2023). "'The Five Devils' Review: Let's Do the Existential Time Warp Again". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
  25. "Cannes 2022 : les films en lice pour la Queer Palm". CNC.fr (in French). 10 May 2022. Retrieved 27 January 2023.
  26. Taylor, Drew (27 September 2022). "Fantastic Fest Awards Winners: 'Piggy,' 'The Five Devils' and 'The Menu' Take Top Honors (Exclusive)". TheWrap.
  27. Jamet, Constance (25 January 2023). "César: La Nuit du 12, En Corps, L'Innocent, en tête des nominations". Le Figaro (in French). Retrieved 27 January 2023.
  28. Clarke, Donald (6 March 2023). "Dublin International Film Festival: The moving My Sailor, My Love named best Irish movie". The Irish Times. Retrieved 17 March 2023.
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