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LES ALGUES MALÉFIQUES

EVIL SEAWEED

Antonin Peretjatko

A scientist in yellow overalls is taking samples of green algae on a beach in Brittany. Lifting his mask, he suddenly drops down dead. There’s panic in the village – he’s not the first person to disappear, and the municipality suspects that toxic algae are the cause. Nevertheless, it’s out of the question to endanger the tourism industry or accuse intensive farming for this maleficent bloom. The mayor prefers to suspect the Parisian “bobos” who rent the Airbnb on the beach. But all it takes is one high tide for the dead to re-emerge from the seaweed carpet as zombies. From then on, of course, everything goes downhill. A hedonistic parody of Romero’s gory, political zombie movies, Les algues maléfiques takes satire and schoolboy adventure to the limit. No-one can escape the zombie violence, but neither can anything stand up to the non-conformist, anarchistic firepower of the author of La Fille du 14 Juillet and Yellow Saturday (FID 2021): neither local politics and its spinelessness, nor the ready-made ideas of Parisian thirty-somethings. Among them, Muppet stands out. The amateur laboratory technician discovers she has a superpower, a lethal weapon in her chest. Flashing zombies! A madcap idea from Antonin Peretjatko, the author and director of this jubilant Breton farce, who seems to have followed no other principle than his own pleasure. And ours –pure pleasure, provided we’re willing to play the (killing) game. (Cyril Neyrat)

Interview with Antonin Peretjatko

Like Yellow Saturday (2021), Evil Seaweed is a political satire, but also a horror film and super-hero movie. Why this mixt of genres?

Genre films have always been a subtle way of addressing or denouncing social issues such as racism or mental uniformity. Brittany is not particularly known for promoting the fight against pollution, as whistle-blowers have been threatened by the food industry. So, it seemed only natural that the idea of talking about green algae through a genre film was a good idea.

The stylised characters, the frenetic pace of the film, which is reminiscent of comics and American graphic novels – were they your inspiration?

The characters are like those in comic books such as Scooby Doo or B-movie science fiction films. However, the iconoclastic character in the film is different from American movies where religion and moral order usually save the world. Here, zombies are created via productivity

You chose Alma Jodorowsky as your super-heroine and other familiar actors from your other films like Estéban. How did you approach the casting?

Casting is always a delicate operation when it’s a group film. The choice is made according to the capacity to set the pace of a scene and to understand the absurdity of a situation through slapstick. Characters must also be devoid of monotony, which is why you have to invent rough patches, even for nice characters, so as to keep the audience guessing.

The eco-warriors and vegans are as laughable as their political opponent – the corrupt mayor. Do you shoot from all sides to condemn everyone’s excess?

Stupidity doesn’t have a side – it is embodied in our time by all those who tell other people how they should live. The film shows the clash between two irreconcilable lifestyles. This is symbolised by the shots of shoes. If the film is ostensibly on the ecologists’ side, it also exposes their shortcomings and complexities.

Interview by Olivier Pierre

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Technical sheet

France / 2022 / Colour / 25’

Original version : french
Subtitles : english
Script : Antonin Peretjatko
Photography : Simon Roca
Editing : Antonin Peretjatko
Sound : Pablo Salaün
Casting : Alma Jodorowsky, David Boring, Pauline Chalamet

Production : Olivier Bourbeillon (Paris Brest Productions).

Filmography :
Les rendez-vous du samedi, 2021
La pièce rapportée, 2021
Panique au Sénat, 2017.
La loi de la jungle, 2016
Vous voulez une histoire ?, 2014
La Fille du 14 juillet, 2013
Un mélo trash, 2012.
Les secrets de l’invisible, 2011
Derrière les barreaux, 2009
L’opération de la dernière chance, 2006.
French Kiss, 2004
Changement de trottoir, 2003
L’heure de pointe, 2002.

INTERVIEW WITH THE DIRECTOR