«Méandre», Mathieu Turi's breathtaking new thriller

Unpublished article - Jonas Follonier

The Swiss premiere at the twentieth edition of the Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival (NIFFF) on July 3, four years to the day after the world premiere screening of’Hostile as part of the same festival, Meander is the second feature film by French director Mathieu Turi. This lightly sci-fi horror film features a young woman, played by Gaia Weiss, who has to fight both the obstacles of the long tube she's trapped in and the traps of her own psychology. The second variation in a cinema of plural genres.

Move on. It's the only thing Lisa (Gaia Weiss, from the famous series Vikings) in order to survive in the tube where she wakes up after a bad encounter on the road. She must keep moving forward, avoiding the deadly traps and strange presences that undermine her path. Move forward as quickly as possible, a mysterious bracelet indicating to the young woman a timer that doesn't bode well. If the presence of a car as a trigger for Meander is a nice nod to director Mathieu Turi's previous and first feature film, Hostile, It's not the only reference to a very coherent universe.

Read also | Mathieu Turi: «Watching Tarantino work was a constant pleasure».»

The most salient link Meander is the one with Cube, the famous Canadian horror film by Vincenzo Natali, which also blends in with science fiction. This kinship is so obvious that the difference between the two films can be summed up in a single letter: we're no longer dealing with a cube, but a tube. This «t» is also Turi's, because the film obviously has many other characteristics of its own, and the French director's touch has a lot to do with it. In Meander the same way of making an accessible concept film as in Hostile.

This story of a race for life in a nightmarish, labyrinthine enclosed space - not just for claustrophobics - spins the metaphor of moral dilemmas on the basis of an adverse reality. The hostility is both external and internal. The elaborate camera effects around the character and the machinery that must have been found for the occasion make this clear. The overdone dimension of some of the keys to understanding given to both the heroine and the viewer is made up for by the effectiveness of the form. The feeling of oppression is guaranteed. To music, Meander would certainly be a hit.

Still to be seen at NIFFF July 5 at 4:15pm, July 7 at 4:00pm and July 10 at 00:30am.

Write to the author: jonas.follonier@leregardlibre.com

Photo credit: © Alba Films