If it’s hard enough to track the Competition slate at any given Cannes Film Festival, prioritizing other sectors––especially features from new-ish directors––becomes a whole other ballgame. Thus we’re thankful to MUBI for acquiring The Five Devils, a buzzy, conceit-heavy thriller from Léa Mysius (Ava) starring Adèle Exarchopolous, and which they’ll open on March 24 before streaming on May 12.
Our forthcoming review by Alistair Ryder calls it “an entrancing time travel drama,” adding that it’s “a deeply transfixing sophomore feature, which beneath the genre artifice, tells a much more direct tale of familial bonds than her debut––overlook the mysterious time-traveling conceit, and you’ll find an irresistibly prickly drama about family and generational trauma at its core.”
Watch the preview below:
Vicky, a strange and solitary little girl, has a magical gift: she can reproduce any scent she likes, and collects them in a series of carefully labeled jars. She has secretly captured the scent of Joanne, her mother for whom she nurtures a wild, excessive love. When her father’s sister Julia bursts into their life, Vicky reproduces her smell and is transported into dark and archaic memories which lead her to uncover the secrets of her village, her family and her own existence.