Quarxx

(On Cable TV, October 2022) If you enjoy movies that go violently off the rails during their third act, then—oh boy—have I got something for you: Tous les dieux du ciel, which often seems to go full bore into New French Extremity territory before turning completely bonkers in an overextended coda. Much of the story revolves around a rural brother-sister pair, the sister having been severely handicapped following a firearm accident he caused when they were young. Director Quarxx delights in presenting the uncomfortable as bluntly as possible, a strategy that depends and benefits from an actress (Melanie Gaydos) with a non-traditional body type. But it goes much, much further—the farm on which most of the action takes place is somewhere where anything could happen: delusions, murder or extraterrestrial abduction. It’s all quite creepy, and it gets worse, as the brother seems to be cracking up when authorities start asking questions about what’s going on. It’s weird enough, but there’s a feeling that this is going somewhere… until the crazy stuff really amps up and results not in a climax, but in an entire drawn-out third act that doesn’t have much to say beyond a manufactured reversal of fortunes. Far from ending on a high note, Tous les dieux du ciel disintegrates for a full fifteen minutes before mercifully ending, leaving a film that felt far worse than if it had just stopped minutes before. And that’s not even considering the gratuitous esoterism of the finale, leaving behind the concrete horrors of the film for… something else. It’s not a success, but others will judge by themselves if it’s a failure.