Mange tes morts (2014)
Directed by Jean-Charles Hue

Film Review

2011 saw the release of director Jean-Charles Hue's debut feature La BM du Seigneur, a gently compelling drama-documentary set within a community of Yeniche gypsies living in the north of France.  Hue's second film, creepily titled Mange tes morts, feels like a continuation of the first, with the same set of characters (vividly portrayed by some remarkably talented non-professionals) this time embroiled in a fictional genre narrative that feels like the perfect amalgam of classic noir thriller, western and road movie.  In a way that curiously resembles Clouzot's Le Salaire de la peur (1953), the film starts with a frustratingly long, dawdling intro which takes its time (re)introducing the main characters before the plot suddenly kicks in, taking the spectator hostage as an unforgettable road journey gets underway.  It's not much of an exaggeration to say that this is the most gripping joyride French cinema has given us in years.

Hue's preference for employing exclusively non-professional actors soon pays dividends, as this is what gives the film its raw naturalism and an unnerving spontaneity.  The problem that genre films suffer from is an inherent predictability.  There is pretty well only plot available to the heist movie, and this has been pretty well done to death by a long line of filmmakers, so the scope that a director has for taking his audience by surprise in minimal.  Mange tes morts has a classic heist movie set-up, complete with its obligatory quota of adrenalin-pumping action set-pieces, but Hue's off-kilter approach somehow makes it feel deliriously fresh.  Taking his leave from the great Jean-Pierre Melville (whose Le Cercle rouge appears to be a strong influence), Hue gathers up all the familiar heist movie trappings and uses these as a pretext for a weirdly original character study, in which he dissects the psychologies of his gypsy protagonists with the dedicated skill of a pathologist performing an exhaustive post mortem.

Mange tes morts owes its title to an old Yeniche expression which means 'renounce your ancestors' and is just about the most offensive insult in the Yeniche lexicon.  The relevance of the title becomes apparent when the ordeal undertaken by the four central characters (three totally unalike brothers and a tag-along cousin) turns into something far more than just a criminal exploit - rather it's a statement of who they are and where they are heading in life.  It's not a consignment of copper they are after, it's a deeper understanding of themselves (and so heist movie segues into road movie).  As the existential quest nears its conclusion, the laid back naturalism that seems to be Hue's natural style gives way to dusky stylisation that is spookily redolent of classic film noir.

What makes the film particularly absorbing are the very different personalities of the four main protagonists, something that results in some colourful and revealing character interplay. Fred, the eldest brother, who has just completed  long stretch in prison, is motivated primarily by the need to hit back against the gadjo (non-gypsy) world and its bogus morality.  Jason, his easily led younger brother, wants only a taste of adventure to break the monotony of his nomad life.  Mickael, the other brother, is a hardened thug who just likes hitting things (preferably soft squidgy things with a pulse), whilst cousin Moïse, a die-hard Christian, seems to be there just for the fun of it.  As amateur criminals go, they make a pretty inept bunch, locked into a shared delusional fantasy, and when things start to go wrong this is when the fun begins.  The film noir highway turns out to be a one-way track and the lads quickly discover the limits of their erstwhile nomadic freedom.  It is at this point that the care invested by Hue and his talented cast in the slow build up to the climax suddenly pays off and we genuinely begin to feel for the characters.  Fasten your seat-belt tightly, for what Mange tes morts promises is one Hell of a journey across some very bumpy terrain.

Film Synopsis

18-year-old Jason Dorkel belongs to a community of travellers.  He is getting ready for his Christian baptism when his half-brother Fred shows up out of the blue, having spent several years in prison.  Accompanied by their brother Mickael, an impulsive lad prone to bursts of violence, Jason and Fred make an incursion into the gadjo world to lay their hands on a consignment of copper.