La Damnée by Abel Danan: Our opinion and the horror film trailer

After three short films, one of which (Canines) will be presented in competition at the Gérardmer Festival in 2021, Abel Danan turns to feature films with La Damnée, in theaters October 2, 2024. A fan of genre films, this time the young director turns his attention to the figure of the witch, drawing on the frightening tales his Moroccan grandmother used to tell him and his brother by flashlight when they were children.

Yara (Lina El Arabi), a 25-year-old Moroccan woman who has come to study in Paris, has not left her home for several months, as she has been agoraphobic since childhood due to terrible family events. One evening, a mysterious apparition disrupts her daily routine and forces her to relive her worst fears, driving her to the brink of madness...

While the idea of bringing together this great figure of Moroccan folklore and the French genre was a welcome one, in the end the film, though full oflaudable intentions, turns out to be a little poorly delivered. And the sound effects (used excessively) don't help: at times, the film lacks flavor, despite the director's desire to highlight a rich culture that is little-known - and therefore original - to Westerners.

It plays on the isolation of this character gradually sinking into madness, but also raises deeper questions about Yara's past - we quickly suspect rape in the young woman's past, and the metaphor of the hand plunged into the oily ceiling adds another layer - and that of her family.

But while Lina El Arabi's performance of mental collapse is to be commended, we can't help feeling that La Damnée suffers, at times, from the syndrome of a feature film that would have benefited from being kept short.

• To be read
• Cinema: horror films to see in cinemas and coming soon
• Cinema: French films to see in cinemas now and in the near future
• Cinema: Trailers for new films in theatres now and in the near future

The trailer for Abel Danan's La Damnée (2024) :

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