Alexandre Aja’s first feature film (on Blu-ray and DVD)

Artistic note: (3/5)

Synopsis

In a civilization devastated by a past war, a world without freedom where writing on the walls leads to torture and death, Theo, 20, takes to the streets every night to draw. One night, he meets Elia, a young girl who also draws. Then begins, to the rhythm of the drawings, a strange love story …

• Original title: Furia
• Support tested: Blu-ray
• Genre: science fiction, drama
• Year: 1999
• Director: Alexandre Aja
• Casting: Stanislas Merhar, Marion Cotillard, Wadeck Stanczak, Pierre Vaneck, Carlo Brandt, Laura del Sol, Jean-Claude de Goros, Etienne Chicot
• Duration: 1 h 39 min 06
• Video format: 16/9
• Cine format: 1.85 / 1
• Subtitling: none
• Sound track: French DTS-HD MA 2.0
• Bonus: limited Digipack box with Blu-ray and DVD of the film
• Blu-ray bonus: The fury of filming, unpublished interview with the director Alexandre Aja (2021, 33 min 35) – advertisement (1 min 02)
• Publisher: ESC Éditions

Artistic commentary

Furia is the very first feature film by Alexandre Aja, who until then had stood out as an actor and as a second-team director in the films of his father Alexandre Arcady. Reading Julio Cortázar’s short story “Graffiti” inspired him to write the screenplay for a fantastic film that he co-wrote with his childhood friend Grégory Levasseur, his official screenwriter with whom he had shared the Palme d’or for short film for Over the Rainbow (1997). Their plot for Furia, awarded in 1998 with the junior prize for best screenplay, takes place in a repressive post-apocalyptic world which condemns graffiti artists but cannot prevent the romance between two street artists. The film, produced by Alexandre Arcady, had limited resources but a cast of promising young actors, Marion Cotillard, Stanislas Merhar (César in 1997), Wadeck Stanczak (César in 1986), as well as a confirmed actor, Pierre Vaneck . Alexandre Aja will shoot Furia in a small fortified Moroccan city El Jadida chosen for its unique architectural atmosphere, in particular for its Portuguese underground cistern from the 16th century which will appear in a sequence and which had already been filmed by Orson Welles for his Othello (1951). The young filmmaker is well supported since he can count on the talents of Gerry Fisher, director of photography for Joseph Losey, and Brian May, guitarist of Queen, who will compose the memorable music of the film. Having not yet acquired his aura of brilliant horror film director, the young Alexandre Aja does not lack talent in managing to direct a mastered science fiction drama despite the modesty of means: no special effects, a handful of actors, barely furnished natural settings. Aware of these limits, the filmmaker will not cease to skillfully play on the vagueness of situations and characters: neither the city nor the time are clearly identified and the various characters, emerging from nowhere, will keep their share of mystery. until the end. Furia is mainly composed of sequences in which the protagonists focus attention by generating palpable emotions of empathy (romance) or disgust (torture). If one guesses the dystopian alienation of the story through classic elements of repression and rebellion, so often exploited, Furia practices the fictional subjective approach limited to its few characters, without ever expanding its narrative in space and time, nor developing its major argument: the artistic act as a weapon of freedom against all alienation. Furia, which did not attract many people when it was released, deserves to be seen again as an imperfect work of youth which testifies to a certain talent for telling a story and for creating a disturbing atmosphere at a lower cost.

Technical commentary

Picture : HD copy, new restored Master, good definition, detailed close-ups, discreet silver grain (35 mm filming), excellent work on contrasts (see bonus) with a suggestive contrast in low light, dense blacks, warm color grading, colorimetry in ochres, saturated tones

His : French mix 2.0, clear, balanced dialogues, excellent dynamics which highlights the music of Brian May and the few action atmospheres, no breath or distortion

Our opinion

Picture : (4/5)
Sound mixing: (3.5 / 5)
Bonus: (3/5)
Packaging: (3/5)

IMDb : https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0181549/

Blu-ray / DVD combo available on Amazon

Other articles that may interest you on ON-mag and the rest of the web