FANTASIA23 REVIEW: Vincent doit mourir [Vincent Must Die] [2023]

Rating: NR | Runtime: 115 minutes
Release Date: November 15th, 2023 (France)
Studio: Capricci Films
Director(s): Stéphan Castang
Writer(s): Mathieu Naert / Mathieu Naert, Dominique Baumard & Stéphan Castang (adaptation and dialogue)

Which is more plausible? That a bunch of random people want to kill you for no discernible reason? Or that a bunch of random people want to kill you because you did something to provoke them?

Our species loves to ascribe purpose to actions because we cannot comprehend a world without it. That’s why we try to project reason onto the unreasonable and pretend systems built to disenfranchise are actually working incorrectly rather than exactly as planned. It’s not therefore that humans are “good” at their core. It’s that we believe the humans surrounding us are to stay sane. That they’re just prone to errors like the rest of us—confused lambs, not malicious wolves.

It’s not therefore surprising when everyone inherently blames Vincent (Karim Leklou) for getting attacked. He must have provoked the intern into hitting him in the face with a laptop. He must have pissed Yves (Emmanuel Vérité) off to earn a series of stabbings with a pen. Because that belief makes more sense than a reality where violence erupts without cause. It makes more sense to fear Vincent (what he’s apparently stirring up or his inevitable retribution) than worry that we might also be targeted. Logic must prevail despite our world’s illogical descent.

Director Stéphan Castang and screenwriter Mathieu Naert’s Vincent Must Die is thus as much a political statement about today’s rising current of rage-fueled responses to society’s so-called ills as it is a new spin on the zombie flick as already reinvented by Joe Lynch’s Mayhem. Unlike that film’s virus pushing everyone to want to kill everyone else, however, the urge to destroy here possesses a more specific target. And rather than originate from the aggressor, this bloodlust is sparked by the victim. It’s as if Vincent is secreting a pheromone that makes anyone who locks eyes with him want to bash his skull.

The result is as humorous as it is horrific. We can’t expect when the next attack is coming or how brutal it might be, but we can laugh when the absurdity of the situation leaves everyone unable to fully process what occurred. Vincent’s bosses and HR department look to mediate. Vincent quickly forgives so as not to rock the boat. Yves breaks down in tears knowing what he did without having any recollection of doing it. And things only get wilder when children attack him. Or when Vincent meets someone else suffering the same plight (Michaël Perez’s Joachim). Or when he falls in love (with Vimala Pons’ Margaux).

That’s where the fun and intrigue lie since this isn’t some high concept gore-fest of carnage like Mayhem or The Sadness. Castang has crafted a quiet drama out of the scenario instead—one where its victim just wants to stay alive and, hopefully, not be forced to kill someone else knowing they can’t help themselves. Steering clear of mankind isn’t easy in this day and age, though. Neighbors knock on the door. Delivery people ring the bell. Restaurants need to serve you their food. And the more you avoid eye contact, the more hostile and suspicious they become.

I didn’t expect Vincent Must Die to carry through as far as it does. I thought this would just be a bit of a lark wherein the lead character must endure his curse until an answer or cure arrives. So, it proves quite surprising and appreciated when the world is expanded via both the events Vincent experiences and the gradual escalation of news stories on the radio. What starts as an isolated phenomenon soon grows until its impact can no longer be ignored.

That romance finds a way to blossom anyway can feel corny, but it’s also necessary. Its incongruous nature to the subject matter adds comedy while its ability to make a man forget his entire species wants to murder him still proves sweet. Because what epitomizes love more than the desire to make it work in a world that’s seemingly erased it from its vocabulary? Have you ever loved someone so much you’d risk them choking you to death in your sleep to be together?

(Context is everything since that’s a question with obvious domestic abuse undertones—enough to probably earn the film a trigger warning with how quickly its concept demands its victims blindly forgive their abusers.)