A small village sees its inhabitants massacred by a strange creature
“Teddy” by the Boukherma brothers is the first French werewolf film.
Anthony Bajon brilliantly embodies a young man full of mysteries and frustrations.
What is hairy and only comes out on full moon nights?
The Werewolf of
Teddy
by Ludovic and Zhoran Boukherma, a French horror film as scary as it was original, awarded at Gérardmer, shown in Deauville and labeled Cannes 2020.
The twin brothers, to whom we already owed the excellent
Willy 1er
, confirm the singularity of their talent with this atypical film about a young man (Anthony Bajon, always perfect) who is trying to find his place in a small village. whose inhabitants are victims of brutal attacks.
“We grew up in rural France that we wanted to show in the film, explain the filmmakers to
20 Minutes
.
It seemed interesting to us to confront the world of horror cinema with that of a peaceful small town, like in Stephen King's books.
"
The choice of violence
The spectator feels the tension rising around the main character who has become aggressive out of frustration. It is not her job in a beauty salon run by Noémie Lvovsky as an authoritarian boss that will change the situation. “We wanted to maintain the ambiguity around the hero, insist the directors. We'd like the viewer to wonder if he's a real werewolf or just crazy. The brothers therefore limit the appearances of the "creature" which amplifies the discomfort as well as the fear of seeing her show herself.
Horror film assumed as such,
Teddy
also surprises by the accuracy of the description of life in the village. Beginning and talented actors like Christine Gautier and Ludovic Torrent make characters anchored in reality totally believable. “We had to understand the hero's unhappiness and that is why painting his environment seemed important to us: his actions also stem from his frustrations. Barely out of adolescence, the latter expresses himself through violence. A terrible choice which is reminiscent of a form of radicalization.
An anxiety-provoking film at will,
Teddy
is a fine example of what French genre cinema can have to offer.
“We love François Truffaut as much as John Carpenter” say the directors.
From this union was born a bewitching work that makes you very happy to have crossed Teddy's path on a screen (and not in life).
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