Review by dbdumonteil

This is the second Pierre Jolivet movie I see ;the first one I saw a couple of years ago("force majeure") was marred by a happy end which made the story null and void(not to mention a very poor actor:Patrick Bruel).

"Simple mortel" is a different matter,simply because it goes to the very end.And it allows some uncertainty to remain after the viewing. -Is-it a sci-fi film in which ETs try to get in touch with the hero,the "chosen one"? -Is-it the story of a man going nuts?

This is a really offbeat story,without one single special effect -which is quite a feat-,with a slow beginning:the first fifteen minutes are a bit boring.But the movie hits its stride after and remains absorbing till the end:series of bizarre warnings ,of events that should not happen but did happen.Jolivet's main quality is to put his disturbing facts into daily life.

Does the hero actually hear those voices who ask him to save the planet ?After all,in the late Middle Ages ,it happened once to a young peasant girl from Lorraine.She said she heard three saints' voices ,asking her to come to her king's rescue.Nowadays the extra-terrestrials have replaced those holy men and women .It does not make a big difference.