The Five Devils: The eponymous devils are actually five mountain peaks which provide a backdrop to the events in this French feature. Vicky (Sally Dramé) is a precocious, solitary child who is bullied at school. She has an extraordinary sense of smell, even able to track down her mother in a forest. Her mother Joanne (Adèle Exarchopoulos) is a swimming instructor, fed up with her firefighter husband Jimmy (Moustapha Mbengue), she reflects on her past glories as a swimming champion and local beauty queen. Vicky uses her facilities with scents to create copies of those of people close to her. She enters trances, travelling back in time, experiencing the events as they occurred. Things become even more fifficult for the Solers when Julia (Swala Emati), Jimmy's sister, comes to live with them. Why Julia left the the mountain town ten years ago and how it affected Jimmy, Joanne and another teenager, Nadine (Daphne Patakia) is central to the narrative. A dark film in places, entering into the slipstream of horror. Vicky seems to indirectly influence events in the past and bring physical objects back. Sally Dramé is wonderful as Vicky, accepting her abilities, not put out by her time travels but upset by her parents' deteriorating relationship. Adèle Exarchopoulos potrays the still beautiful and fit Joanne, but longs for her lost teenage years and perhaps more. She swims in an icy mountain lake for twenty minutes each day, almost as a self punishment, a great performance. Emati's fiery Julia is haunted by demons, not just of her past but those she encounters now. Mbengue;s Jimmy tries to be the anchor for this unhappy family. A story of love, guilt and elements of darkness and horror. Directed by Léa Mysius, who co-wrote the screenplay with Paul Guilhaume. 8/10.
13 Reviews
An intriguing tale with interesting elements
foxtografo27 March 2023
As a premise, it has a mix of elements that called my attention. The trailer shows interesting imagery and characters and the movie lives up to it.
Through the first half I was very curious about what the characters do and how events would develop.
There acting performances are solid throughout, and even if I heard some mixed opinions about the story being all over the place, too much going on and confusing, for me the elements were always clear and the story is quite simple to understand.
There's a little twist at the end that might leave you thinking to figure out what it means, but even if you don't, the story makes perfect sense and it even surprised me with its tone.
The cinematography is ok, nothing special, but the story is interesting and well paced so it kept me entertained from beginning to end.
Through the first half I was very curious about what the characters do and how events would develop.
There acting performances are solid throughout, and even if I heard some mixed opinions about the story being all over the place, too much going on and confusing, for me the elements were always clear and the story is quite simple to understand.
There's a little twist at the end that might leave you thinking to figure out what it means, but even if you don't, the story makes perfect sense and it even surprised me with its tone.
The cinematography is ok, nothing special, but the story is interesting and well paced so it kept me entertained from beginning to end.
I expected more...
derek-duerden15 May 2023
... following the early rave reviews of this film, and the fact that Adele is always interesting.
However, I found a couple of the characters very thin (the husband in particular) and the flashbacks became a bit much for me.
At one level, as with Titane, this is quite an interesting set-up of a highly dysfunctional family, but I just couldn't suspend disbelief enough for some of the action and, in particular, the outcome (as far as I could make it out).
Meanwhile, on the basis of this, I'm sure however that Sally Drame will go on to do some very interesting work - she's a compelling presence here.
Worth a look.
However, I found a couple of the characters very thin (the husband in particular) and the flashbacks became a bit much for me.
At one level, as with Titane, this is quite an interesting set-up of a highly dysfunctional family, but I just couldn't suspend disbelief enough for some of the action and, in particular, the outcome (as far as I could make it out).
Meanwhile, on the basis of this, I'm sure however that Sally Drame will go on to do some very interesting work - she's a compelling presence here.
Worth a look.
The Five Devils
CinemaSerf1 April 2023
"Vicky" (Sally Dramé) lives with her school swimming coach mother "Joanne" (Adèle Exarchopoulos) and fireman father "Jimmy" (Moustapha Mbengue). Despite a fair degree of quite nasty teasing from her schoolmates, she is a happy enough child who has an astonishing gift. She has the most acute sense of smell. She can differentiate between natural and man-made scents - she can even sniff her mother out in the woods, at a distance, amongst all the other fragrances. The appearance of her aunt "Julia" (Swala Emati) causes upset though. She has just been released from prison and her arrival at their home seems to unleash in the young girl an enhanced set of powers that allows her to see into the past, as if she were a bystander, and slowly a story of lust, love and violence is revealed. It's an intriguing premiss, but somehow it just never really stays focussed long enough to become interesting. Some of the characters - especially the young Dramé are engaging enough, but the story itself is weak and underwhelming. It's not that it is boring, it isn't: it's that for too long nothing happens and then when something does, it is usually seen through the eyes of a child far too innocent to fully appreciate (I hope) what she is witness too. There is plenty of sexual fluidity here, and even a bit of tragedy at the end, but for the most part it's a jigsaw puzzle of a film with too many pieces that either don't fit or don't matter. It kills one hundred minutes easily enough, but I doubt I will ever watch it again.
I think this movie needs to be watched twice. Figuring out what's going on with Vicky is the key to understanding the movie.
artfuldragon31 May 2023
It's definitely a drama/mystery. There are odd things that happen surrounding the daughter, Vicky, that you aren't suppose understand from the beginning, but will be clear once you reach the end. The story is confusing, because it's meant to be, because the characters have a intense history that you don't know. It's kind of like the sixth sense where you aren't meant to understand everything the 1st time you watch it, but with the sixth sense, you didn't really know you didn't understand everything until the end. I think the problem some people have with this film is, confusing things happen surrounding Vicky, and even at the end, they don't actually have a person say IN WORDS, what's the deal with Vicky, you just have to figure it out, but it's not that hard when you think over every thing you saw. Imagine watching the sixth sense, but they never specifically referenced ghosts, and the kid never said "i see dead people", but all the evidence of him seeing dead people was there.
Incredible filmmaking
martinpersson9714 May 2023
This incredible french drama delves deep into a genre breaking experience in very interesting ways.
The actors and the script is incredible, and so is the cinematography, cutting and. It is simply a very beautifully and uniquely put together piece.
Overall, an incredible and acclaimed film that is very much recommended for any lover of film.
The effects, and the overall idea and execution works very fluidly. The end result is a very unique piece that stays with you for a long time.
Overall, yet another testament to the greatness of french cinema, and how you can bend genres and conventions in very appreciated and interesting ways.
The actors and the script is incredible, and so is the cinematography, cutting and. It is simply a very beautifully and uniquely put together piece.
Overall, an incredible and acclaimed film that is very much recommended for any lover of film.
The effects, and the overall idea and execution works very fluidly. The end result is a very unique piece that stays with you for a long time.
Overall, yet another testament to the greatness of french cinema, and how you can bend genres and conventions in very appreciated and interesting ways.
The Diablo's in the Detail...
Xstal8 October 2023
Without assistance, teaching, learning you've acquired, certain skills that take you back to times expired, with your jars of concoction, your magic causes a motion, that can take you back to places you desire. What you find, seems to defy, cause and effect, and the paradox is a mystery and detracts, as your appearance would affect, all the outcomes you'd expect, chicken, egg, just takes you to a disconnect. So you scratch your head, your chin and raise your brows, as you determine all the why's and where's and how's, all the acting is quite fine, Adele is always so divine, but there are better ways to engage and arouse.
Well filmed but not very compelling
jfgibson735 June 2023
The Five Devils is a very nice looking film. It is full of artsy compositions and colorful scenery. It is well performed; the actors are very naturalistic, and no one is over the top or feels unrealistic. The story, on the other hand, is not for everyone. It follows a family at a crossroads when someone from their past returns to town. How each character handles this reappearance makes up most of the runtime. There is a fantastical element, as one character is able to enter moments from the past, but almost everything else is handled very realistically. I was very neutral towards this movie. I was definitely wanting to see where it went, but once it was finished, I was ready to move on. I didn't feel compelled to reflect on what I had seen. I was hoping for more tension or emotion of some sort, but it was all pretty subdued. My opinion is that this one is skippable.
A loosely-threaded, slightly boring film; feels unfinished
Lepidopterous_13 November 2022
Les Cinq Diables, from director Léa Mysius, begins with intrigue but never fully delivers on its concept. Adèle Exarchopoulos is magnetic in every scene, and Sally Dramé rivals Hushpuppy (Quvenzhané Wallis) as the cutest kid ever. If this movie shines for any one reason, it is that we get to spend 96 minutes with these two.
The story and storytelling, however, are the weakest links. For a good chunk of the film, the story sort of meanders without any real sort of tension, presumably to tease out the mystery. Some plot points end up going nowhere, the climax that gets supernaturally pieced together doesn't pack the punch it seems it is going for, and I think a lot more could have been done to bring the themes home and make it far more powerful. In a way it reminds me of a Jacques Audiard film in the way it unloads a lot of rich theme but does not tie it down neatly for the viewer--which may be frustrating for some audiences and thought-provoking for others.
Les Cinq Diables is an ambitious film that lays decent groundwork but never seems to find its footing. It may leave enough for some interesting discussion on the interface between sexuality and relationships through the eyes of the innocent, but its clever approach more often gets entangled in subpar storytelling and a loosely-threaded plot.
Watch it for the cute kid and for the goddess Adele. Skip if you desire a more cohesive narrative.
The story and storytelling, however, are the weakest links. For a good chunk of the film, the story sort of meanders without any real sort of tension, presumably to tease out the mystery. Some plot points end up going nowhere, the climax that gets supernaturally pieced together doesn't pack the punch it seems it is going for, and I think a lot more could have been done to bring the themes home and make it far more powerful. In a way it reminds me of a Jacques Audiard film in the way it unloads a lot of rich theme but does not tie it down neatly for the viewer--which may be frustrating for some audiences and thought-provoking for others.
Les Cinq Diables is an ambitious film that lays decent groundwork but never seems to find its footing. It may leave enough for some interesting discussion on the interface between sexuality and relationships through the eyes of the innocent, but its clever approach more often gets entangled in subpar storytelling and a loosely-threaded plot.
Watch it for the cute kid and for the goddess Adele. Skip if you desire a more cohesive narrative.
Vague.....too vague
AvionPrince168 November 2022
Warning: Spoilers
A completely confusing story. I found myself throughout the film trying to decipher what the director wanted us to understand but I had trouble understanding even at the end. Unlike other films that I did not understand the end like Lost Highway (I understood that it was a film that deserved to be reviewed a second time to understand) but for this film I do not think it will help me to see more clearly. The trailer was strange, the film even more so. The film wants to be implicit voluntarily but instead create a kind of confusion with this kid who smells odors and seems to be transported to another time. This results in a rather disjointed writing with sequences that seem to be just an excuse to see Johanne in cleavage or scantily dressed. We also talk about sex in the film, something that I appreciate. We also understand that there is a secret relationship between Julia and Johanne. I felt completely confused. A story that has neither head nor tail. Then at the end the young girl we see, I don't understand who she is. In short, an implicit film and not so cerebral as that but simply confused in its transmission. Rather disappointing.
Style over substance, came short in most departments
Horst_In_Translation19 May 2023
Warning: Spoilers
"Les cinq diables" or "The Five Devils" is a new French film, well actually one that premiered back in 2022 already, but it took until now, spring 2023, for the movie to make it to Germany, so it could even take way longer for countries further away and especially on other continents. The film has made some solid waves though awards-wise. Got in at the Césars, also at Cannes and Northern Europeans seemed to appreciate it especially and there is even some awards recognition from America. Some of the awards attention is difficult to appreciate though if it honors the film in a category that is exclusively for female filmmakers. Discrimination galore and I am sure Miss Alice Guy would not have appreciated either. She was good enough to compete with the man back then, but that is another story. Let's get back to this one here: As you can see from my rating, I do not really agree with any of it. I generally like French films, but this one here left me rather disappointed. It was not a failure or anything, but also not good enough for a positive recommendation, but before I get into the details of the plot, let's take a look at the basics first: It is not a long film, but stays under the 100-minute mark, still runs for over 1.5 hours. The director and co-writer here is Léa Mysius, who was born in 1989, so still a fairly young filmmaker, even if she had a break of five years between this film here and her previous work. Taking this gap into account as well, I really would have hoped this to turn out better. Anyway, her co-writer here is Paul Guilhaume and he already worked with Mysius on "Ava", the aforementioned 2017 film. Guilhaume is mostly a cinematographer though, very prolific in this department and in terms of writing he has done nothing except these two films with Mysius. We will see if he gets more prolific in this department in the future. Honestly, I am not looking too much forward to it judging from the outcome here, but there is always room for improvement I guess.
The title character in "Ava" was played by Noée Abita and she is also part of this new film here, but her role is so tiny in here, virtually no screen time at all, that I would rather call it a cameo than a supporting performance even. The star is of course lead actress Adèle Exarchopoulos and I am sure most people will still now her from "Blue Is the Warmest Colour", also known as "La vie d'Adèle", because of the successes this film had, but also because of the controversial conflict between the two lead actresses and the director. Let's not get into detail about this though. I would still say that film is worth mentioning here because honestly this feels almost like a bit of a sequel here and there. Exarchopoulos plays again a character who is not really happy with men, or at least her man and ends up in a romantic relationship with a woman. This is also packed with drama and conflict though as both, but especially the main character's love interest, are far from easy characters. The biggest issue I had with this film though was the fact that it played basically between two times and there were months or probably years in-between. Took me quite some time to understand this and even when I did, I was never really sure which time we are in right now. I am generally a fan of chronological movies, but here and there I am also okay if it is not chronological, but here it was just a mess and hurt the viewing experience a lot from my perspective. One crucial reason why I give it a thumbs-down. I am sure it all unfolded nicely and was so packed with metaphors and symbolisms in the writer's/writers' heads, but she/they did not manage to transition her/their ideas to the screen in a really convincing manner.
Here and there, I also felt the film was just too much trying to make an impact in terms of as many controversial and socially relevant subjects as it could. Take the lesbianism aspect, take the discrimination coming from the other kids and that is not even all. It's okay they included all this, but they did not manage to build a convincing story around it. The best example is the African woman's character being so scared because of visions of another girl. You could never be sure if she meant the protagonist's daughter or another. As a consequence, the oh so shocking and meaningful final shot felt just as pretentious and for the sake of it as the film's title. It is never explained in the film why it is like that. Same is true for the girl's talent to smell all kinds of things, even a coffee stain in a book or her mother far away. I mean this scene was nice, but in the overall picture quickly forgotten like the rest of it all and added not a lot. Or the scene when the girl fights back somehow when she is attacked and chokes or so by these other children. I am talking about the moment when they make her eat soap. This could have been another great addition story-wise, but all we understand is that something bad then happened as a consequence to at least one of the other kids. Maybe more. It was still funny to see the mother (and daughter) unleashing then on the other woman. Another scene I remember was the octopus scene. Now that was just harsh. Not so cool. The protagonist's father also stayed a bit in the mind with his words and actions here and there. I would say he almost felt like an antagonist with some of the stuff he says and does, not right from the very first scene where he still wants to help the young woman and proposes to take care of the girl, so she can spend some time alone with her man, but afterwards. The alcohol on the food thingey for the young girl was just one example.
Completely away from that, the film in general also makes decent use of Exarchopoulos's stunning physicality. There is no denying she is still a looker. You can debate if her acting talent is on par with her looks, but I think she did alright here with what she was given and the negative issues do not lie in her performance. As she plays a very gifted swimmer, we also see a great deal of naked skin from her here. Not a big surprise I assume. I will certainly not complain. If I understood correctly, she was a dancer before that. Maybe she is too old for that now or not at 100% physically anymore, so she switched to swimming? But still, her explanation about why you should only swim for half an hour or so in the cold water stayed in my mind. At least I learnt something here if the film did not wow me. I kinda felt Exarchopoulos had a pretty deep voice here. I am not sure if I remember this from her big breakthrough film, but I don't know. Her characters seem to like smoking and maybe the actress is not completely against it either. Another symbolism or whatever you wanna call it the idea of bruised eyes or faces. We see it on the colleague (she is the one played by the stunning Daphne Patakia no?) and we also see it on the African woman. You could have thought there that we will see more characters like this, but it did not happen. You do get a scene thought where Patakia's face is explained. Again a flashback and there is also some jealousy and cheating story attached to it. I am sure that eventually Exarchopoulos' protagonist does not care and maybe everybody is now really with whom they should be to find a bit of happiness. The protagonist's boyfriend or husband not sure also knew about what was going on between his sister and his girl and this surprised me a bit.
Much more than anything else, however, this film was all about stylistic choices. You will find some of the most memorable ones on the film poster too, like how we see the main character blurry and as if she had 4 twins or so, but it was all seen through the eyes of the girl then in this scene. Or glasses I should say maybe. This was the scene with the karaoke if I remember correctly, when the two girls sing a Bonnie Tyler song together that is featured on several occasions here. The song is better than the movie without a doubt, but it is slightly exaggerated in terms of how meaningful it wants to be too, so this it has in common with the film. The film ends with a pretty dramatic moment of poisoning that I found less memorable somehow than the depiction and explanation of how they kept the woman from freezing to death out there, so yeah the impact this film had on my was just not big enough for a thumbs-up here. You can skip this movie, even liking Exarchopoulos will not be enough to really make it worth it. I am glad it did not run for two hours. I would not blame the audience here if they do not really understand or find a connection with this movie, but rather the script. Sometimes less is more and of course you can guess a lot here like if maybe the young protagonist does not even exist, but then you will see that her mother agreed that she could so something in the swimming pool or that she defended her after the conflict with the other girls/parents etc. So yeah, I find it fairly difficult to make something out of all this. Clearly, there was so much ambition here to this film and you can easily see they wanted it to turn into something huge. But it is no such thing. Watch something else instead.
The title character in "Ava" was played by Noée Abita and she is also part of this new film here, but her role is so tiny in here, virtually no screen time at all, that I would rather call it a cameo than a supporting performance even. The star is of course lead actress Adèle Exarchopoulos and I am sure most people will still now her from "Blue Is the Warmest Colour", also known as "La vie d'Adèle", because of the successes this film had, but also because of the controversial conflict between the two lead actresses and the director. Let's not get into detail about this though. I would still say that film is worth mentioning here because honestly this feels almost like a bit of a sequel here and there. Exarchopoulos plays again a character who is not really happy with men, or at least her man and ends up in a romantic relationship with a woman. This is also packed with drama and conflict though as both, but especially the main character's love interest, are far from easy characters. The biggest issue I had with this film though was the fact that it played basically between two times and there were months or probably years in-between. Took me quite some time to understand this and even when I did, I was never really sure which time we are in right now. I am generally a fan of chronological movies, but here and there I am also okay if it is not chronological, but here it was just a mess and hurt the viewing experience a lot from my perspective. One crucial reason why I give it a thumbs-down. I am sure it all unfolded nicely and was so packed with metaphors and symbolisms in the writer's/writers' heads, but she/they did not manage to transition her/their ideas to the screen in a really convincing manner.
Here and there, I also felt the film was just too much trying to make an impact in terms of as many controversial and socially relevant subjects as it could. Take the lesbianism aspect, take the discrimination coming from the other kids and that is not even all. It's okay they included all this, but they did not manage to build a convincing story around it. The best example is the African woman's character being so scared because of visions of another girl. You could never be sure if she meant the protagonist's daughter or another. As a consequence, the oh so shocking and meaningful final shot felt just as pretentious and for the sake of it as the film's title. It is never explained in the film why it is like that. Same is true for the girl's talent to smell all kinds of things, even a coffee stain in a book or her mother far away. I mean this scene was nice, but in the overall picture quickly forgotten like the rest of it all and added not a lot. Or the scene when the girl fights back somehow when she is attacked and chokes or so by these other children. I am talking about the moment when they make her eat soap. This could have been another great addition story-wise, but all we understand is that something bad then happened as a consequence to at least one of the other kids. Maybe more. It was still funny to see the mother (and daughter) unleashing then on the other woman. Another scene I remember was the octopus scene. Now that was just harsh. Not so cool. The protagonist's father also stayed a bit in the mind with his words and actions here and there. I would say he almost felt like an antagonist with some of the stuff he says and does, not right from the very first scene where he still wants to help the young woman and proposes to take care of the girl, so she can spend some time alone with her man, but afterwards. The alcohol on the food thingey for the young girl was just one example.
Completely away from that, the film in general also makes decent use of Exarchopoulos's stunning physicality. There is no denying she is still a looker. You can debate if her acting talent is on par with her looks, but I think she did alright here with what she was given and the negative issues do not lie in her performance. As she plays a very gifted swimmer, we also see a great deal of naked skin from her here. Not a big surprise I assume. I will certainly not complain. If I understood correctly, she was a dancer before that. Maybe she is too old for that now or not at 100% physically anymore, so she switched to swimming? But still, her explanation about why you should only swim for half an hour or so in the cold water stayed in my mind. At least I learnt something here if the film did not wow me. I kinda felt Exarchopoulos had a pretty deep voice here. I am not sure if I remember this from her big breakthrough film, but I don't know. Her characters seem to like smoking and maybe the actress is not completely against it either. Another symbolism or whatever you wanna call it the idea of bruised eyes or faces. We see it on the colleague (she is the one played by the stunning Daphne Patakia no?) and we also see it on the African woman. You could have thought there that we will see more characters like this, but it did not happen. You do get a scene thought where Patakia's face is explained. Again a flashback and there is also some jealousy and cheating story attached to it. I am sure that eventually Exarchopoulos' protagonist does not care and maybe everybody is now really with whom they should be to find a bit of happiness. The protagonist's boyfriend or husband not sure also knew about what was going on between his sister and his girl and this surprised me a bit.
Much more than anything else, however, this film was all about stylistic choices. You will find some of the most memorable ones on the film poster too, like how we see the main character blurry and as if she had 4 twins or so, but it was all seen through the eyes of the girl then in this scene. Or glasses I should say maybe. This was the scene with the karaoke if I remember correctly, when the two girls sing a Bonnie Tyler song together that is featured on several occasions here. The song is better than the movie without a doubt, but it is slightly exaggerated in terms of how meaningful it wants to be too, so this it has in common with the film. The film ends with a pretty dramatic moment of poisoning that I found less memorable somehow than the depiction and explanation of how they kept the woman from freezing to death out there, so yeah the impact this film had on my was just not big enough for a thumbs-up here. You can skip this movie, even liking Exarchopoulos will not be enough to really make it worth it. I am glad it did not run for two hours. I would not blame the audience here if they do not really understand or find a connection with this movie, but rather the script. Sometimes less is more and of course you can guess a lot here like if maybe the young protagonist does not even exist, but then you will see that her mother agreed that she could so something in the swimming pool or that she defended her after the conflict with the other girls/parents etc. So yeah, I find it fairly difficult to make something out of all this. Clearly, there was so much ambition here to this film and you can easily see they wanted it to turn into something huge. But it is no such thing. Watch something else instead.
Summary: A chronologically confusing film for no reason to be so.
carmo-52 September 2023
According to Wikipedia, part of the filming took place in Isère (France), in the commune Le Bourg-d'Oisans and at Lac Bleu, as well as in Île-de-France. I couldn´t figure out why this movie is called The Five Devils. I read somewhere else that the name of the film relates to the five mountains nearby the place the action takes place. I do not think the landscape plays an important role in the film and, definitely has nothing to do with the story being told. Perhaps a more suitable title would be The Scent of Things, considering 'scent' is a strong issue throughout the whole film, which attracts our attention but does not contribute much for clarifying the development of the plot per se. If I have not read a short description given in Mubi about the story, the whole movie would have been even more confusing to me. Vicky´s father, Jimmy, had not seen his sister Julia for 10 years. From what I remember, Vicky and Julia had not met before, up to the day Julia arrives at the family (Joanne, Jimmy and Vicky) house and the story starts.
A delicious and flavorless soup
olcayozfirat28 May 2023
It is a mixed feelings movie made in 2022. That's why I can't identify the species. Some people are happy that the movie is not over, but if I enjoy the movie, I look at it. Did i get it? No. Now they have started to use children in bisexual movies too. For example, in the movie (see: Knock at the Cabin), little boy was used.
A strange subject has been found and never been within the subject. It starts out like tension. When he says he will shift towards fear from there, he attributes drama. Acting is insincere. There are many open issues. I liked the music in the finale.
There is sexuality, less nudity.
A strange subject has been found and never been within the subject. It starts out like tension. When he says he will shift towards fear from there, he attributes drama. Acting is insincere. There are many open issues. I liked the music in the finale.
There is sexuality, less nudity.
See also
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