Directed by Sébastien Marnier
Written by Fanny Burdino and Sébastien Marnier

A woman on the verge of financial collapse attempts to impersonate her imprisoned lover and con her wealthy, estranged father and his new family. (IMDB)

There are some mild spoilers in this review

The Origin of Evil follows Nathalie (Laure Calamy) a con artist on the brink of financial ruin, evicted from her flat and stuck in a dead end job that leaves her smelling of fish. She worms her way into the wealthy family of Serge Dumontet (Jacques Weber), posing as Stéphane (Suzanne Clément) her imprisoned lover who was estranged from the Dumontet estate many years before.

What follows is part drama, part comedy as Nathalie’s plans evolve and unravel around a family of misfits and arseholes. Touted as a drama and thriller on IMDB, this was very much more of a drama for me; there are no real thriller elements in it. Wierdly, and this is probably just me, it felt that it would do well as a stage farce. It even includes a pretty decent pratfall at one point.

The Origin of Evil is a well written, directed and acted movie. It moves at a reasonable rate and veers from stern maids evavesdropping behind doors, to creepy, manipulative, patriarchal perverts. This is both a strength and a weakness for The Origin of Evil. While you don’t have to like characters to become invested in their fates, it helps if they have some element of sympathy or are relateable. I didn’t find any of the characters to be much of either, meaning, by the end of the movie, I didn’t really care who live/died/won/lost and that meant much of the impact was lost on me.

Which is really frustrating because, as a package, it’s a good film, it just didn’t capitalise on a couple of areas that could have elevated it for me.

Nathalie’s incarcerated lover was probably the most sympathetic character, estranged from her family and being manipulated by Nathalie. But we didn’t get enough development for her so, again, I didn’t feel for her by the end of the movie. Serge’s granddaughter was perhaps the most sane of all the characters but, again, lacked development as a counter to all the back-stabbing and conniving by the other unpleasant players. There was much made about her passion for photography, but that wasn’t utilised. In a film like this it would have been a great way to reveal secrets, create leverage and unravel plans, but it was never used. Chekhov would not be happy. Perhaps that was a clever bit of misdirection by the director but, ultimately, that character could have been removed completely and the film would not have suffered.

This all sounds very negative, but what are the positives?

The performances in the movie are all great. Calamy plays the part of the con artist pretending to be Stéphane superbly, switching from sassy manipulator (see the scene when she leaves work early claiming someone had died) to vulnerable long lost daughter with ease. Weber is a sickly, greedy patriach, his wife, played by Dominique Blanc is an unstable, compulsive shopper filled with bitterness, reflected further by their daughter George (Doria Tillier) full of hate for her father, but who shares his greed. They all move and circle each other in a merry dance of suspicion and jealousy. Marnier is obviously skilled and having fun with his cast and presentation. He uses split screen delivery on a number of occasions to follow conversation and cleverly reveal plot developments without it looking like a cheap trick.

Which is why The Origins of Evil is a difficult one for me. I can see that it is a very well made and acted film, with a reasonably complex story that is deftly delivered but, because of the lack of care I had for the characters, it wasn’t quite for me. Your Mileage, of course, May Vary, so don’t let me put you off. Would I have sought this movie out if I hadn’t received a screener? Maybe not. Would I recommend people against watching it? Definitely not.

Maybe I am just a miserable bugger?

Give it a whirl, you might just like it.

The Origin of Evil is in cinemas 29 March