Vincent n'a pas d'écailles

I'm a big fan of the superhero genre and as a matter of act, while lovingly eating each slice of the MCU cake, I've always been curious to discover flicks of all kinds from all over the world. Unfortunately that's why I found myself watching Ra.One, uh! Alongside USA and Japan, France is a land with a strong superhero culture. French males in their late 30s and their 40s grew up reading Strange and Nova, monthly magazines that then compiled the adventures of Spider-Man, Alpha Flight, The Avengers and so on. Nowadays, France is the second world market for mangas. You just have to go to a FNAC at the comic book shelves to see zombified manga buffs spending a 10am to 7pm day reading their favorite series.

Therefore how can one not be curious about the self-proclaimed "First French Superhero Movie?" Moreover the trailer is more of a teaser that looks funny and says nothing about the plot. That's how I ended up at the movie theater in a not that empty room, looking forward to this intriguing flick. Surprisingly it's not a comedy let alone a spoof. Vincent is a discreet shy Average Marcel. In a world of the quest for easy fame, he only wants to live the normal life. The film starts like any other French film, with a solitary guy looking for a job. The first act respects its French origin. Dialogue sounds extremely natural and then unwritten. You have a feeling to be in your everyday life as boring as it may be. Plus the very good thing is it's a no-star cast. Big trouble in Little France is that you always see the same faces in movies. The lead actor is a boy next door and not a star that had spent hours of workout with a coach to look toned. The actress is pretty without being a bombshell.

Even the photography is typically French. Meaning it looks all but sophisticated with natural lighting. All of this sounds off-putting but actually it ends up being highly refreshing. It is because you know after this "boring" everyday slice of life there is some superhero stuff. Once the first super demonstrations pop up the audience laughs because even though you knew it, you were so plunged deep into the normal life in Southern France it is still a surprise. You laugh yes but the film takes the genre very seriously. I don't know whether the author is a Marvel fan but he respects the genre without xeroxing what was made before while not doing too much. He manages to keep a balance between drama, romance, comedy and superhero and he loves his characters. And you know what? SFX are awesome. No massive destructions, no 15-ft alien monster, just superpowers used in a normal environment.

But don't be mistaken, there are walls and cars destructions, chases in the city, rumbles. Every now and then, the author cleverly spreads winks to whisper "Hey man it's a superhero movie!" Of course the movie has flaws. Thomas Salvador is not Matthew Vaughn. Vaughn is "I'm the best of the best and I'm gonna demonstrate it with high virtuosity." Salvador is exactly like his character, a bit too shy and too hesitating at times (but when needed he kinda rocks). The music though funny sounds like stolen from a Marriott elevator compilation.

With its flaws and its qualities, the movie is very original and respectful. Plus without saying too much the ending is just perfect. For Marvel fans and people who aren't into superheroes, because it's a refreshing change with a drastically unique tone for this genre, this film is definitely a high recommend.

In the age of superhero films and TV series, Vincent n'a pas d'écailles is really the anti-superhero story, or, at least, as much of an anti-superhero movie as a movie about a superhero can be, because the true anti-superhero movie is probably something closer to Pride and Prejudice, or really anything directed by James Ivory.

Vincent n'a pas d'écailles, the first film from Thomas Salvador, who also plays Vincent, is the story of an introverted man who doesn't have friends or, we sense, a family that he's particularly close to. He is a loner and has probably been a loner for quite some time. But unlike the countless other lonely men and women out there, Vincent has superpowers, the cause of his loneliness and marginality; superpowers he doesn't want to share with anybody out of fear of ostracism and an aversion to attention. When his skin enters in contact with water, he develops extraordinary physical strength -- he can jump high, hit hard, swim fast. And yet Vincent n'a pas d'écailles, Vincent doesn't have scales.

But it isn't these circumstances that make this film an unusual movie of its kind. Because we have seen superheroes with similar loner backstories, including Bruce Wayne. What makes the story unique and interesting are its clever and enjoyable subversions of the genre, namely expressed in the film through the pacing and action. In its pacing, we find a very slow movie, but a pleasantly slow movie, a bit like a Sunday drive through the countryside, which, granted, no one does anymore but...

In its action, we find a lack thereof, going hand-in-hand with the glacial pacing. Frankly, not that much happens. Superhero movies are rife with action and plot points, from the main character's discovery of their powers, to their testing of these powers, to their decision to use those powers to help people, to their final encounter with the arch-nemesis, who turns out to be that scientist guy nobody took seriously. But not here. We start the movie with Vincent moving to a small village somewhere in Southern France where he takes a job working construction. Boring. And when we're not watching him working his boring job, we're watching him spend his time alone in his bedroom, lying on his bed, drinking a can of Schweppes. Boring + 1. But it's this lack of action, and this James Ivory pacing, that makes this a superhero movie worth watching. Crazy, right?

At last, the story kicks in when one day Vincent meets a local woman, Lucie, played by the charming Vimala Pons. And this is what Vincent n'a pas d'écailles is really about. A man letting a woman in. A woman loving a shy man. That's it. Nothing more. It just so happens that the man can swim as well as a dolphin.