The Wolf’s Call (Le Chant Du Loup) French Film Festival

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https://www.affrenchfilmfestival.org/

10/03/2020 until 19/04/2020

Review by Barry Hill

Initially it is difficult to link this title to a film about war and submarines. I can only assume The Wolf’s Call is the sonar signal emitted by enemy submarines, but I’m not sure.

A French submarine finds itself in an emergency situation. Among the crew is Chanteraide, acoustic analyst and specialist in sonar detection.

Though they escape the crisis successfully, Chanteraide, who has a “golden ear” (like a musician with absolute pitch) is obsessed by an unknown sound which almost jeopardizes the operation, defies his superiors’ orders and decides to investigate.

Amid potentially catastrophic international tensions, guided by intuition, Chanteraide unknowingly then participates in an even more dangerous manoeuvre that will lead his submarine, country - and the rest of the world - to the brink of annihilation.

While I found the colour palette of this film stunning, (particularly the blues which add to the claustrophobic atmosphere of a submarine) the film itself has problems.

Firstly, the script is disjointed, lacking in technical reality and far too long. It is hard to maintain interest for 115 minutes. The editing is confusing at times and while the film is fast paced, some of the emergency scenes in the submarine are so frantic we lose the dialogue.

Director Antonin Baudry attempts to make his characters believable, but is hindered by the script. The central actor François Civil appears to spend the entire film looking dazed apart from the scenes with his love interest Paula Beer.

The other characters roles are stereotyped, not because of their talent, rather, once again the script limits them.

The film tries too hard to be a Hollywood blockbuster, but does not quite make it. The pace of the initial 20 minutes makes it difficult for the audience to engage with the story.

All in all, while I applaud the concept and the attempt to make a credible war film involving submarines, The Wolf’s Call ultimately does not deliver it’s potential.

 

2 1/2 stars