«Perfect Sense»: love at first sight in pandemic Manhattan

Cinema Wednesdays - Special edition: The coronaretrospective of anticipation cinema - Fanny Agostino

In the category of disconcerting associations, David Mackenzie's film brings together the romantic comedy and the anticipation film. And it does so without a hint of the far-fetched or the traditional hero's quest, Perfect Sense brilliantly summons the life drive and perseverance of ordinary people.  

For the uninitiated, the pitfalls of feature-length films about the collapse of the human race can be daunting. We admit it, a little out of prejudice: drooling, staggering zombies, a distraught hero trying to escape contamination to restore meaning to a mediocre life, striking hemoglobin images and sensationalist shots. Then there's the obligatory theme of survival and the pompous denouement dripping with abject morality. At the climax of this list, I'd like to make it clear: I'm not a cinema apocalypse fetishist... Yet, Perfect Sense managed to reconcile me with the disintegration of humanity.

The antithesis of genre expectations

Anticipation films dealing with the end of the world tend to gloss over the subject: behind the special effects and crowd movements, the cornerstone of their subject is human drama. This cannot be resolved by an external, globalized vision of the phenomenon, or even that of the nuclear family, for the simple reason that it affects behavior and emotions. Existential anguish, gradual loss of motivation, frustrations... To get close to the consequences of a pandemic is to show the daily life of the bystander who doesn't achieve anything and who suffers the unthinkable.

This perspective requires a certain amount of revelation of a character's interiority. Perfect Sense succeeds doubly through the romance of Michael and Susan - played by the excellent Ewan McGregor and Eva Green - born just before the arrival of a virus whose origin and incubation methods are unknown. Through these two individuals, the viewer follows the evolution of the world's gradual extinction on a human scale.

Loss of the senses, artifact of human extinction

Although unprecedented in terms of its importance in our history, the story at human level and the love story would not be enough to create an exciting scenario. What makes the fiction all the more appealing is the nature of the disease. It's not a case of coughing up blood or dying of asphyxiation after excruciating suffering. In a gradual, unpredictable process, the infected lose their senses.

Central to the interpretation and perception of the world, their disappearance encourages human beings in a race to adapt. The restaurant in which Michael works - the idea of a pastiche of cheesy comedy A taste for life is brilliant - reinventing its menu. Food became spicy, and customers now gathered at the table not to savor dishes, but to socialize and spend time together. Society is adapting and continuing its fight against inescapable degeneration... Until when?

With its monochromatic tones, it boasts an icy aesthetic, Perfect Sense is steeped in an icy atmosphere, with the threat of extinction hanging over the human race. A burden and a constant anguish - redoubled by an original soundtrack featuring string instruments - that can only be countered by willpower and belief in humanity. The few easy choices made to depict the symptoms of the virus do not diminish the joy of watching this tragedy, so close and yet so different from our own.

Write to the author: fanny.agostino@leregardlibre.com

Photo credit: © IFC Films