When Thierry Frémaux, general delegate of the Cannes Film Festival, announced that EO, a film shot from the point of view of a donkey, would be part of the official competition for the 75th edition, reactions were a little circumspect. We might have expected the film to be a little ridiculous or too strange, but this was not the case: EO (named after the donkey in question) is a great success. Poland's Jerzy Skolimowski, the cult art-house director of the 1970s and 1980s, is behind the camera and makes this adventure a real heartbreaker.
With EO, it's not so much the donkey that interests us as the way humans see him. In turn, he meets truckers, hooligans and slaughterhouse managers, and each time, the poor animal is confronted with a new form of violence. And while the main character remains the donkey, this doesn't prevent some well-known faces from making an appearance, such as Isabelle Huppert, for example. A great admirer of Robert Bresson, the director has made no secret of the fact that he was inspired by Au hasard Balthazar, of which the story is a variation.
The world is a mysterious place, especially when seen through the eyes of an animal. Along the way, EO, a gray donkey with melancholy eyes, meets good people and bad, experiences joy and sorrow, and the wheel of fortune alternately transforms his luck into disaster and his despair into unexpected happiness. But never, never does he lose his innocence.
Even though he has a blank stare and often walks at random, EO the donkey is a real movie character. His fate is deeply moving, and it's hard not to be moved. The filmmaker's visual experiments leave an indelible mark on the retina, making Hi-Han an aesthetic slap in the face. A great anti-speciesist crusade, the film never overdoes its indignation; it simply shows the reality of the treatment meted out to animals who have the misfortune to cross paths with ill-intentioned or simply cruel humans.
The magnificent soundtrack underlines the film's chaotic dimension. In the end, the form is matched by the content, especially when the image changes color and becomes a witness to the brutality on which the animal's encounters are based. It's a film not to be put in everyone's hands, but it's worth seeing, as much for its substance as for the way it dynamizes the frame. At the age of 84, Jerzy Skolimowski proves that he clearly hasn't lost his touch, and that younger generations still have plenty of inspiration to draw from his.
October 2024 cinema releases: Films and times near you
Discover all the films in theaters in October 2024 with showtimes near you. Don't miss a single movie! [Read more]
October 2024 cinema releases: Films and times near you
