Evolution (2015) User Reviews

Enjoyable if you don't try to make too much sense of it

[chris-679-516246 · 6/10 · 1 January 2017]

A little like an abstract painting that refuses to represent recognizable subject matter in favor of expressing a "mood." Contrary to what others here have said, there *is* a story-line. The problem is that the underlying narrative structure is too basic to support so many elaborate, mystifying trappings.

It helps to know that the director based the movie on the experience she had when she was 10 and went to a hospital to get her appendix taken out. So given the main character's nightmarish attempt to figure out what's happening to him, we're basically seeing an elaborate series of puzzling visual metaphors for the director's disorienting personal experience as a child in hospital.

This movie isn't hiding anything or failing to be coherent. It just wants to be a darkly evocative visual collage instead of a straight-up narrative. Accordingly, it's rewardingly rich visually, but it's like a poem that sounds great but doesn't involve you in anything really important. All of the many unanswered questions it raises make it hard to let the visuals just wash over you.

In other words, behind all the evocative, disturbing imagery (again "unsettling" is the best word) it's *just* a retelling of a personal experience; there isn't a deeper message than "fear of the unknown." For me that wasn't enough.

The mood is conveyed. The story is told. It's just not terribly profound.

Interesting Little French Chiller

[t-dooley-69-386916 · 6/10 · 20 May 2017]

Nicolas lives in an isolated and decrepit French coastal town. The only inhabitants are boys and older women. The food is about as palatable as a botulism sandwich and all the boys have to take 'medicine' as they are all sick.

Then one day Nicolas goes swimming and discovers the body of a dead boy. He then starts to question what is going on and sets out to discover the truth.

Now this is a short film lasting only 79 minutes and the dialogue is sparse, however all the screen time is put to excellent use. The SFX are all top notch and the boys are superb in what are very physical roles. It is a slow burn but that is offset by a very stylised and stylish picture palette that uses vivid colours to great effect and the cinematography and framing of the shots gives it an art-house feel that just oozes quality. It is not a film to 'enjoy' as the subject matter is so dark but it is one you can admire – hence my rating.

Beautiful, but ultimately nonsensical

[manuelasaez · 4/10 · 4 August 2016]

This movie is the equivalent of watching a famous painter perform his craft; you stand there, amazed at the beauty being demonstrated, and then when it's all over, you wonder, "What did he just paint?". I am all for films that make you think and create an ambiguous air in both storytelling and message, but this film is beyond absurd. The premise, the events that transpire throughout the movie, the lack of rhyme or reason as to why the events are taking place in the first place, etc. It was like a puzzle with not only missing pieces, but with each piece a part of a different puzzle. It's beautiful shot with some amazing cinematography, so be prepared to be amazed at some of the vistas shown throughout the film. But the movie just does not make any sense, and the ending does not clarify anything, nor does it bring it all together. Had it clarified some of the events, it actually would have been a great art film. As it stands, it's quite possibly the most nonsensical movie I have ever seen. I would not recommend watching it.

Innocence Unprotected

[sol- · 7/10 · 22 October 2016]

Lucile Hadzihalilovic's long awaited follow-up to 2004's 'Innocence', the main characters in 'Évolution' are once again children nearing puberty, but whereas 'Innocence''s young cast consists of girls, all of the children here are boys. The plot involves one such boy discovering the dead body of another with a starfish attached to him, which seems to provoke all the mothers in town to send their boys to hospital, despite none feeling ill. As with 'Innocence', the plot is hardly straightforward here and it would be remiss to fixate over working out what is going on when it is such a thematically rich experience. The ideas at hand all pertain to normal growing up experiences, from a fascination with how humans reproduce to interest in the naked female form. One might even interpret the film as a living nightmare with the boy's very worst fears over such things manifesting themselves. Is human reproduction really that monstrous do naked women really have such strange bodies? The film is certainly littered with enough lush imagery and moments of eerie beauty that it is hard to bring a straightforward reading to the film. And yet, whereas the same can be said about 'Innocence', it is easier to interpret what is happening there. 'Innocence' also benefits from all its girls being three dimensional characters whereas all of the boys here are interchangeable. Simply put, 'Évolution' is not nearly as satisfying as 'Innocence' with an equal dearth of answers - but it is still a wondrous audiovisual experience the causes one to think as per Hadzihalilovic's earlier work.

Some good ideas but hampered by a joyless execution

[Red-Barracuda · 4/10 · 18 October 2016]

A young boy begins to wonder about the isolated community he has grown up in; one populated only with boys his age and young women.

This French film is an example of a recent type of development that I have noticed in horror cinema in that it is a film that is played out in such a self-consciously arty style that it seems to think engaging with the audience may in actual fact be beneath it. The events depicted have some genuine potential but they are played out in such an overwhelmingly downbeat manner that their effect is seriously compromised. The tone of the film is more or less one note from start to finish, resulting in a pretty unsatisfying experience. This is an especial shame when the overall setting of the story and its enigmatic qualities are fairly promising. Details are not fully revealed about what is going on but this fact didn't concern me too much – aspects such as the strange medical experiments and odd events that played out on the beach in the dead of night were intriguing. But the material was not served well in my opinion by the excessively po-faced execution and it was ultimately quite difficult getting very involved with the events that played out in this one.

Evoution on display

[kosmasp · 8/10 · 22 November 2016]

It's tough to call this a horror movie, because some will expect something completely different. It's more of a mystery thriller with horror touches. If you though Under the Skin is horror, with Scarlett Johansson and liked that movie too, you probably will like this one also (because of a similar vibe, not because of themes that are colliding, but it may touch the same nerve as well).

While it's slow burning and cooking, that fact may annoy and disappoint people. But if you stick with it, the movie will reward you. It's a strange story and movies that have the heart to go different directions should be rewarded. Or at least enjoyed for what they are. Hopefully something you can dig while watching

A beautiful horror film

[ReganRebecca · 6/10 · 26 December 2016]

After watching the film I read some interviews with the writer/director Lucile Hadžihalilović and she mentioned how it had taken her a long time to get funding for this film. Never have I been less surprised. Not creepy enough to be a full blown horror film and too creepy to just be a pure art film.

The film is about a young pre-pubescent boy named Nicolas who lives on a remote island with his mother, several other women and other young boys around his age. He is told he is sickly by his mother and urged to eat a really wicked looking blue creation for his "health" and eventually has to go to a hospital where he is repeatedly operated on.

I won't spoil the movie, but Hadžihalilović isn't one for jump scares and Nicolas's illness and the reason for his hospital visits are made clear very early on. It all unfolds in a creepy atmospheric way so that the audience is aware of the bad things that are going on before Nicolas is, though he too learns the secret behind his illness soon enough.

The movie is very beautifully filmed with lots of stunning shots of the water and the seaside. However one thing I take issue with is how dark some of the shots were. Maybe it was the fault of the distributor for not cleaning up the shots but there are some nightime scenes where instead of being frightened I was merely confused because the screen looked pitch black.

Nevertheless the movie is very easy to follow on and the ultimate story and horror is pretty simple.

I'm not a horror fan so this was not really a movie for me, but for art fans who are looking for a slow scare, this might be for you.

Some art, very little movie

[garcianc2003 · 4/10 · 14 August 2016]

Evolution looked interesting in the previews, which left me wanting to see more. Sadly, after watching the movie, I was left feeling like I had walked somewhere but stayed in the same place.

The movie is a very stylistic an artful rendering of some place near the water where children play and their mothers care for them. The strangeness of the place slowly (and I mean slowly) becomes obvious. We soon notice that there are no grown adult males, for instance. There is very little that I can say that will spoil the movie, but I will refrain from going into anything that might be construed as a plot element. Suffice it to say, the movie is about 90% ambiance, with some beautiful shots. The underwater shots contrastingly more beautiful than the starkness and dullness of the village life. There were shots in which I measured a character literally staring at the lens for nearly one minute - and yes, I looked at my watch.

Evolution is, sadly, like riding in a beautiful elevator with some soothing background music playing through ceiling-mounted speakers. We feel like we are enveloped in the ambiance of that moment, staring in the same direction as everyone else. We may or may not notice the music, the ornate trim, or the polished floor. We just want to get to our floor. Or, perhaps, if it takes too long, we may consciously notice what song is playing. Nevertheless, at the end, the doors open and we get out, the elevator not leaving any impression on us. It got us somewhere, but we don't care, we are here where we always thought we would be, no thanks to the elevator. That is Evolution, a mildly satisfying piece of semi-conscious background images and sounds that dumps us at the end of the ride and lets us go on with our lives - we don't know if we liked it, it was beautiful but we are indifferent and only thankful that we did not go crashing, because it could have been worse.

OK, so where was I going before? .... oh yes, here is my floor.

Not a Horror Film

[isobellefox · 8/10 · 28 April 2017]

I never write reviews, but I feel compelled in this instance to do so. It seems to me that this movie is done a grave injustice by giving it the moniker of "horror" film.

Horror implies a lot of things, and some of them are present here. There is a sense of unease and tension. The main character certainly has reason to doubt the sincerity of those who are "caring" for him. For some people, there are elements which might be "disturbing." However, the same can be said for films like Boys Don't Cry and Eraser Head. Though these two films have little to nothing in common either with each other or with Evolution, they two contain "distressing" elements, but are not horror movies.

The reason this seems important to me is that horror comes with expectations that this film is not meant to fulfill. This film would better be viewed with the idea, instead, that it is portraying, beautifully, an archetypal dream world, that it is something of a Jungian fantasy.

It is full of references to the chthonic nature of the mothers - the ocean, the cave, dark mysterious rooms, the mysterious nature of the mothers themselves. The androgynous nature of the mothers is important, as well. The doors left open through which the boy can, if he chooses, pass.The boy's sketch book in which he draws his OWN archetypes, ferris wheels and cars among other things which we are to understand are not among those he has consciously experienced is perhaps the most brilliant example. All of these things are part of the boy's hero myth, of his gradual act of individuation as he questions his way through this world. There are two possible fates awaiting this boy as there are for any active mind. Will he passively accept his fate among the mothers, or will he rebel? The thing is, you don't have to be interested in psychology to feel these things - they are natural. They are dream elements, and this film is, in a way, a beautiful dream. If it is watched without an expectation of that which makes a horror movie "horrible," there are layers and layers here that can be enjoyed without reference to terminology. You can FEEL them. You can SEE them.

In the latter department, this film succeeds wondrously. Every single frame is perfectly positioned to draw us in. It is glorious to look at. The score is also very subtle and beautiful.

It really is an amazing film. I just think you have to come at it with as few preconceptions as possible. And you definitely should leave the notion of "horror" at the door. If, then, you DO experience horror, it will be a genuine reaction, and if you don't, you won't feel like the film has failed you.

Very ambitious

[Red_Identity · 28 December 2016]

The ambition that this film has is really something to behold and to admire. It's definitely not a fast paced film at all, and I could easily see many people really not taking to this. However, once the mood settles in and you are able to stay with it it's a very pensive, very meticulously-made film. The performances are quite strong and the actors have a really great hold on what their roles require. The film definitely has many surprises in store and they never feel like cheats or contrivances. I do think the film falls short of greatness, but it's still a very good horror film that continues the great trend of 2016 horror.

Twin film to "Innocence" (2004) from the same director

[frankde-jong · 7/10 · 16 May 2023]

It is nearly impossible not to see "Evolution" (2015) as a twin movie with "Innocence" (2004).

Both films are about children in their early tens, just before their sexual awakening. "Innocence is about a group of young girls, "Evolution" about a group of young boys.

Both films have a creepy and haunting atmosphere. Exploitation of the girls respectively the boys is suggested but never made very explicit.

Both films are situated in an isolated environment. "Innocence" in a boarding school in the middle of a dark forrest, "Ëvolution" in a deserted coastal village with a spooky hospital. The coastal village is frequently lashed by a tempestuous sea.

A dreamlike atmosphere is created by mysterious sources of light. In "Innocence" there are streetlights in the middle of the forest, in "Evolution" there are oil lamps with which the "mothers" held secret meetings by the sea at night.

At the end of both movies the girls respectively a boy travel to a normal city.

I loved both films with their dreamlike but creepy atmosphere that subordinated plot so very clearly to mood.

Unfortunately I missed Lucile Hadzihalilovic third feature "Earwig" (2021), which is really hard to come by in the Netherlands.

Like watching an hour and a half long writing prompt!

[loreleitcaday · 1/10 · 31 October 2016]

This movie has stunning visuals. There are many beautiful scenes of the ocean and the landscape as well as twisted scenes of an uncanny hospital with exploitative practices. Past the visuals and a few interesting interactions between characters, there is not much to this movie at all. The movie is very strange right from the beginning, but with no context. It has you asking a ton of questions and there is build up/tension as the movie progresses, but in the end there is hardly closure. None of the questions you might have been asking are answered and there is no additional context from in the beginning. It's just a bunch of weird stuff happening to kids with no explanation at all.

This movie seems to rely heavily on visuals or on being an "artsy" film rather than having an engaging or fulfilling story, obviously. I love movies that leave some things to interpretation and movies that feature metaphors that add to the complexity of the story, but Evolution just throws a bunch of context-less weird stuff at you and nothing else. Call me uncreative all you want, but when I watch a movie I don't want to have to make up nearly the entire story myself.

I am a sucker for good cinematography/visuals, but the movie has to be impressive in other ways too! This movie was very unsatisfying and it's sadly not the first movie I've seen like this.

Confusing Film

[shmarie · 3/10 · 10 December 2016]

The film did have it's share of eerie moments and it does have a decent premise, but overall it was a disappointment. With the exception of the main character (a young boy), you do not feel much of an emotional connection with any of the other cast members. As other reviewers have mentioned, it has beautiful and artistic cinematography, but I usually chose to watch movies (especially if I am paying to rent them) for the plot and to be entertained. I am not opposed to directors and screenwriters using metaphors and having the audience use their own interpretations when it comes to the motives of the characters and outcomes of certain situations, but with this film it is just way too open-ended- at least for my taste. I felt it was slightly pretentious and tried so hard to be "deep" and artsy" that it kind of did itself (as well as its audience) a disservice. Maybe it would have worked better as a book?

Positive / negative, most reviewers don't understand the movie!

[cromartie890 · 7/10 · 1 October 2019]

I like this film because it made me think. I thought it was easy enough to follow what was actually happening, there were Clues everywhere. The acting was superb. The story was original.

It was ambiguous enough that even though I fully understood what was going on it made me doubt if I really understood. That was until the end that pretty much me confirmation.

Below is a link that I think most of the people that review this in this section should have read because they clearly don't understand the film.

A 5 minute movie stretched to 81 minutes. Ugh.

[because-of-him · 1/10 · 8 June 2018]

The movie reminds me of slow drivers on the interstate that go slower than the 40 mph minimum. There is only 5 min of dialog, and 76 minutes of super slow scenes. In fact, you can watch grass grow faster than this movie.

The story is absolutely stupid because it is not credible. Just like a joke has to contain some truth in order to be funny, a movie has to do the same (cartoons are the exception). If you make a movie where a real giant squirrel jumps from Mars and eats the earth and it takes 81 mi minutes to finish, you will get some 10/10 ratings, but not by me. In summary, the movie is similar to modern art, where a painting with only a round dot is considered superb and exquisite.

Dark and Beautiful

[Blue-Grotto · 9/10 · 8 November 2015]

The sea makes you think all kinds of things. Beams of pale sunlight below, the pounding surf, moonlight reflected on the surface to the end of the horizon, shifting currents, peculiar sounds, brilliant colors and eerie creatures. It is an ethereal and mysterious realm. When ten year old Nicolas discovers the body of someone drowned, few take his word for it. For when it comes to the dark and mysterious, the body is just the tip of the iceberg. The remote seaside village in which Nicolas lives is inhabited only by older women and boys. Nicolas and his young companions are fed gruel, forced to swallow medicine when none are sick, herded into dingy hospital rooms for unannounced and unneeded surgeries, and treated with systematic contempt. These women claim to care for the boys even when they obviously don't. Nicolas suspects he is being lied to, so he attempts to discover more about his captors and the circumstances he finds himself in. With his artistic skills he attracts the attention of a sympathetic nurse who doesn't much care for the scare tactics of her sisters.

Though extremely dark, the film is also beautiful. The beauty is haunting. There is not one explanation for what is happening to the boys, to the women and to the human species. Revenge for the misgivings, mistakes and arrogance of the male hierarchy may be involved, or, more likely, payback for our abuse of the earth and each other. The film is definitely outside the box. It is part of the Toronto International Film Festival's vanguard series (one of my favorite series). Part of what seduces me in this regard is that nothing of the director's vision is held back for fear of any censor. Maybe support of artists is peculiar to the French culture and I wish it was shared by my own. Don't expect to go right to sleep after watching this one! Seen at the Toronto International Film Festival 2015.

Strange and subtle, yet watchable

[jordondave-28085 · 6/10 · 7 July 2023]

(2015) Évolution (In French with English subtitles) SCIENCE-FICTION DRAMA HORROR / ART HOUSE

No plot movie, but more of a character study through the eyes of a young boy named Nicolas (Max Brebant), as he and other boys all somewhat the same age as him. Swimming around and doing what little boys do, while eating green-like slop, and they do this daily and routinely while living with their so-called single mothers- all albino and white while living on a compound near the ocean, sleeping in rooms with no other possessions other than a bed. Viewers wouldn't even know it is even on an island until much later as there no men at all- just albino women and their so-called children. As by the end of the movie, I was still kind of baffled who is really human and who isn't. What is so unusual with Nicolas is the fact that he breaks this cycle or chain by doing things other boys his age do not do such as draw pictures on a note pad, and leaving the household overnight. Nicolas also bonds with one of the nurses Stella (Roxane Duran), he drew a picture of, while some bizarre surgeries are performed on him and each of the boys. There's supposed to be a correlation between the adult women with suction cups on their backs and the ocean for we are given no explanation why they are there, or how it came about, leaving viewers to their imagination.

There is nothing cringing about it but can be defined as strange and subtle, yet watchable.

Beautiful meditation by the sea with exceptional scenography

[rune-andresen · 8/10 · 11 December 2016]

This is not a movie for everyone - or at least - you should be aware that it's not a Sci-fi nor a horror movie as we know them - before selecting this movie.

The movie is beautiful - it is just like meditation at the sea. I guarantee lower blood pressure after watching this move. I loved it. (It almost reminds me to the universe of Myst - the old computer game from the 90s- where you are totally alone on a abandoned Island and you don't know how you got there.)

Furthermore - the move makes you think. It may be a far future situation or it may be a dream of a child. As children we can have fantasies or anxiety for loosing our parents - or we may misenterpret a situation as dangerous etc. this movie may be a dream or a post apocalyptic movie.

Either way - this movie works, but I understand that some people don't like it. This is like entering a gallery. Sometimes you are not in the mood. But, if you are - this movie is unique and genial.

A true artwork.

Boring

[phenomynouss · 1/10 · 25 March 2018]

I see some of the negative reviews tend to point on the fact that it is something of a quiet, pretentious art-type film. I have no problems with quiet, pretentious art-type films, so long as, much like any film, they either have something to say or show, are interesting, or otherwise entertaining in some way.

This film is none of those.

It is very low key and moody. There's very sparse sound going on, with a lot of shots that are almost entirely silent and almost reflective... But it's never clear what it's reflecting on. The implication by the movie is there is something odd going on in a small village apparently made up entirely of women and young boys. At some point the boy protagonist and some of the other boys end up in an incredibly decrepit looking hospital being looked after by nurses who stare wide-eyed and speak very little. This would normally stand out except everyone in this film stares and speaks very little.

The boys inexplicably piece together the idea that their mothers are no longer their mothers, and there's a general sense of creepiness and unease all around. But that's pretty much the only thing this movie has going for it; a general sense of creepiness and unease.

Little actually happens and little is actually explained throughout it. Stuff happens and it's unclear if its actually happening or if it's part of a dream or hallucination. I tend to really like stories that do not fully resolve a mystery, but here there's so little of everything (characterization, story, pies to the face, dialogue, cinematography, anything) that ultimately I just didn't care about anything or anyone in the movie.

It was all a colossal waste of time that didn't even have the decency to be absurdly bad or So Bad Its Good.

Exceptional movie - disagree with low rating

[tcdata · 9/10 · 9 May 2017]

As a frequent IMDb user and movie watcher I typically agree with the overall movie ratings. What I find interesting is that the rating for this movie is wildly low. This movie is outstanding unless you are one for constant action and mindless filler that we are being fed these days. The soundtrack, the scenery, the tone, the characters, and the expressions in and of themselves are most provoking. If you can relax and absorb this work of art you will be entertained, a must watch.

Weird AND boring AND slooow

[dracforever · 1/10 · 16 April 2022]

A trifecta of all of the above that says very little & goes nowhere. I don't claim to be a MENSA member but I found nothing profound, no hidden meaning, and no plot point.

Artsy-fartsy drivel at its worst

[tommyknocker-5 · 2/10 · 28 October 2016]

I can understand why some people appreciate this movie but I'm not one of them. I love independent cinema and I barely watch anything else than that but this movie is beyond my comprehension. OK, it had good cinematography, but good or great cinematography does not equal a good movie.

It's very slow-paced, well, not even slow-paced, rather none-paced. It's boring, dull and nothing happens for the total runtime of 81 minutes.

If you watch a movie, solely for its cinematography, then you may appreciate this one, but if you're hoping for another masterpiece in French cinema, i.e. Martyrs or Inside, then look somewhere else.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

[TrTm316 · 8/10 · 21 April 2018]

Metaphor, my rear end. Regardless of how the director came up with the idea, Evolution is a straightforward science-fiction horror film, and very satisfying. Any philosophical symbolism you wish to read into it is just an added bonus.

Of course it's uncomfortable, kids are in peril. And the boys do seem somewhat interchangeable. They should, since interchangeable kids perfectly suit their role in the adults' scheme. And yes, the kids seem to lack joy and vitality -- that is exactly how kids raised in an emotionally and physically dull environment develop. Kudos, Mme. Hadzihalilovic!

I do enjoy films like Home Alone, but portraying the kids in Evolution as precocious conquerors would have been absurd. Instead, after the underlying premise is accepted, we get a very credible sequence of events. Not everything that's going on is obvious at first. Horror - in the classical usage, creating a sense of dread - continues to build, and the story concludes in a believable way.

What becomes obvious after reading other reviews is that a number of televisions, movie screens, and possibly eyewear need adjusting so viewers can actually see what's going on. Where the boys came from is obvious from Nicolas' drawings from memory, and from the final scene. Where the "women" came from is not; this is science-fiction, we accept their existence as an initial truth. That the women are not merely "disfigured" is obvious both from Nicolas spying on one through a door, and from a night-time scene that is sexual only in the purely biological sense. From this scene and subsequent developments, any birder ("birdwatcher") recognizes the obvious parallel with Brown-Headed Cowbirds (Cuckoos, to our European colleagues). So, only modern technology makes possible the women's activity? Wrong! Cuckoos use multiple hosts, and life evolves.

A non-trivial percentage of the movies I enjoy happen to include sex, violence, profanity, inebriation, and irreverent crassness. Evolution has none of that, and it was a pleasure to experience.

Not Sci-fi

[onelonedolphin-38389 · 1/10 · 19 July 2019]

Classified as sci-fi. It's not. Creepy child abuse flick. Storyline that's disjointed. Complete waste of viewers time. How the parents of these young boys allowed their kids to participate is unfathomable! Why anyone would darken a beautiful island & the ocean with this is beyond me. Doesn't qualify for the awards or high reviews it received.

Very Boring

[hillaireh · 2/10 · 11 April 2020]

I'm into mystery type movies with an interesting concept but nothing really came together for me here. Not much happening at all in the movie.