CHRYSALIS is that rarest of things: a French SF film. It's about a cop in the near future who hunts for the man who killed his partner cum lover only to stumble across a medical conspiracy. It's a glossy but ultimately unrewarding thriller, which feels longer than its short 90 minute running time for the simple reason that the characters are opaque and the plot predictable (I guessed the end twist around the halfway mark). Unsurprisingly, the richest and most bourgeois white character is the villain. The shiny aesthetic, minimal dialogue, stock characters and brutal fights are effective in their own genre fashion but the absence of heart, humour and humanity leaves it feeling empty. The cast is a fabulous collection of handsome skinhead coppers, sleekly pale women and brutish ape-like Eastern European criminals but they all have too little to do. Watching the documentary features makes the failure understandable: the director was so intent on creating complex, highly technical shots that he simply paid no attention to the writing.
Review of Chrysalis
