Writer-director Alain Guiraudie despairs of modern cinemas tonal and textual timidity. So, in this debut feature, he latches onto the rebels first resort, surrealism, to launch an assault on urban bourgeois complacency.
Set in an otherwordly rural France, the action opens with Thomas Blanchard being drawn into danger by a premonition and closes with the seemingly reincarnated Thomas Suire pursuing a gang war against the enigmatic Laurent Soffiati. What happens in between is open to interpretation, as Guiraudie seeks to redefine populism by mixing generic conventions with a breezy surety that consistently entertains, but rarely enlightens.