The Origin of Evil (2022) User Reviews

A deliciously twisted thriller

[steveinadelaide · 7/10 · 1 November 2023]

Sébastien Marnier's French thriller The Origin of Evil tells the tale of Stéphane, a woman on the verge of bankruptcy who tries to get in touch with her wealthy, estranged father and his new family. The film is a slow-burning thriller that keeps the audience on edge with its twists and turns, held together by a stellar ensemble cast. The plot is well-crafted, with a web of lies, secrets, and self-serving schemes that kept me guessing until the end. The theme and tone of the film are dark and twisted, with a touch of black humour that adds to the overall enjoyment of the movie.

The acting and characters are the strongest aspects of the film. Laure Calamy delivers a standout performance as Stéphane, a complex and flawed character who is both sympathetic and unsettling. Dominique Blanc is also wonderful in her role as Louise, Stéphane's evil stepmother, and Jacques Weber is convincing as Serge, the patriarch of the family. The supporting cast is equally impressive, with each actor bringing their own unique flair to their respective roles.

The direction by Marnier is solid, with extensive use of split-screen that conveys the duplicitous and conniving happenings of the story. The score is also noteworthy, with an unusual but effective use of a pipe organ that adds to the film's eerie atmosphere. The cinematography, production design, and use of colour are all well done, with a unique and unconventional approach that sets the film apart from other thrillers.

The film's pacing is slow at times, which did not appeal to me. The editing is also a bit uneven, with some scenes feeling disjointed or unnecessary. However, these minor flaws do not detract from the overall quality of the film.

The Origin of Evil is a deliciously twisted thriller that is sure to satisfy fans of the genre. The film's exceptional cast, solid direction, and unique style make it a standout entry in the thriller genre. While it may not be for everyone, those who appreciate a slow-burning, character-driven thriller will find much to enjoy here.

who's your daddy?

[ferguson-6 · 6/10 · 21 September 2023]

Greetings again from the darkness. Dysfunctional families are common fodder in films for the simple reason that most of us can relate ... or at least walk away being grateful that ours isn't THAT bad. I do trust (and hope) that your family bears little resemblance to the Dumontet clan at the center of this film from writer-director Sebastien Marnier and co-writer Fanny Burdino. This is a story filled with deceit and greed and conniving folks who make any of the reality TV housewives seem like Mother Teresa.

This is a tricky film to discuss while attempting to not spoil anything, so understand some of this is vague by design. Laure Calamy takes the lead as a line worker at an anchovy packaging plant. Her lesbian lover (Suzanne Clement) is incarcerated, and the money problems are piling up. She reaches out to the Dumontets to see if patriarch Serge (Jacques Weber) will accept his long-lost daughter, Stefane, back into the family. Jacques agrees, and soon she is on a boat to visit the ultra-rich Serge, who lives in a mansion on an island in the south of France.

As it turns out, Serge is the least of her worries. His wife Louise (Dominique Blanc) is an eccentric and colorful shopaholic or spendaholic who takes each day as a challenge to buy more items online and through TV shows. Daughter George (Doria Tillier) is a taskmaster who runs the family business and has no time for the newly-discovered sister. There is also George's teenage daughter (Celeste Brunnquell) who mostly broods and looks forward to the day she can escape. Lastly, we have Agnes (Veronique Ruggia), the longtime housekeeper who is also not in favor of adding one more plate to the dinner table.

Director Marnier presents us a cast of nutjob characters, each who carries a secret and is working part of a self-serving scheme. Back-stabbing seems to be a shared family trait, and at times (2 times precisely) it spirals into murder. An extensive use of split screen allows Marnier to convey the duplicitous and conniving happenings. The accompanying music often makes use of a pipe organ - a sound rarely heard in movies that aren't 1940's horror films. Yes, the film is heavy on camp, but it's also heavy on heavy, making the comedic moments even more effective.

Dominique Blanc is wonderful in her role, yet it's Laure Calamy whose performance truly stands out and makes the story work. The set decoration is unlike anything we've seen before (taxidermy and VHS tapes are front and center), and the film acts as yet another skewering of the rich (at least it's not rich Americans this time). Fans of Claude Chabrol will appreciate the homage, and most of us cringe at the unstable personalities in this dysfunctional family and its affiliates. It's unclear how best to label this - comedy, mystery, suspense - but regardless of the label, there is a bit of fun in watching the entitled get a taste of comeuppance.

Opens in select theaters and On Demand beginning September 22, 2023.

Fairly entertaining

[PJLeenders · 6/10 · 13 June 2023]

This was the kind of movie where I wondered, as I got home, at what point it had stopped trying to be a serious film.

As we meet the incredibly charismatic lead we are lead to believe is Stephane (Laure Calamy) everything is perfectly believable. Even her quest to meet her long lost father is something the viewer van accept without question. The home he lives in however, and the people he lives with even more are absurd in such a way that it is no longer a serious attempt to tell a dramatic story. I don't believe the movie takes itself too seriously, but it is definitely sliding into absurdity little by little. In the end, it's a comedy. I never realised that until I got home.

The ending is just ridiculous. No way "Stephane" accidentally kept her girlfriends phone. No way it had not rung before. No way she purposely got caught. I can't think of a single reason to end the film that way. While I was fairly entertained for most of the movie, this made me leave disappointed.

An Awfully Dramatic Title For a Long-Winded Thriller

[thalassafischer · 7/10 · 13 February 2024]

The Origin of Evil is no such thing, it's a ridiculous title for such a sedate and slow-paced thriller. In fact, L'origine du mal is about a half an hour too long.

Stephane, a factory worker, seeks out the wealthy father who abandoned her mother long ago so that she can get to know him in his old age. Serge is not a good man, he admits to caring about nothing but work and money and to having "a few" women. His wife and daughter, George, can't stand him and seem determined to make his life a living hell - the wife by power shopping constantly for things she does not need (or really even want) to waste his millions, and the daughter has taken control of all of his existing businesses, to his chagrin. Stephane is immediately regarded with suspicion and anger by her spoiled half-sister George but insists on ingratiating herself into her father and step-mother's lives.

Stephane is hiding an awful lot, including a lesbian partner who is confined to jail for a crime she claims she didn't commit. I know all of this sounds really interesting and twisty, and the cinematography is nice, but The Origin of Evil is all-too-common. It's very average as a French thriller, I guess you could say it was done in the classic style of French cinema. Maybe I'm too used to watching Italian Giallos and K-Thrillers but this movie practically put me to sleep. I managed to take a break then stay with it until the end, which was relatively predictable at that point.

The one good thing I can say about this film is that because it is so serious, it's difficult not to empathize with Stephane, no matter how bad of a person she is. I'm often able to distance myself from nasty characters emotionally, but Stephane is played with a complexity that hints at her severe mental instability and emotional scars which encourages a sense of sympathy for her until the bitter end.

Identity theft and greed

[AvionPrince16 · 7/10 · 15 November 2022]

A more or less convincing film but it takes a long time to put together! Too verbal and the film for me is too explicit and not very subtle: whether it's the reactions of the actresses, the music and questions that come out of nowhere (the question of Stéphane's identity which is called into question because the woman has rummaged through her belongings seemed completely illogical to me. Otherwise the surprises are there but once they questioned her identity: we already knew that she was not her daughter (well I knew). On the other hand the fact that she changed her identity with the other woman in prison - Serge's real daughter and that she didn't know about was a nice surprise I admit. Justifies the excessive violence of women and insults that I find on the contrary does not create any atmosphere but simply awkwardness. I was convinced by certain things (greed, the real motivation of Serge's false daughter the fact of to do without the consent of her real daughter with whom she has sexual relations) and much less in other aspects (music, characters who are not very complex apart from the false daughter of Serge and Stephane precisely, the others are there as a reason for accusation, false leads and complicity in the murder of Serge.) I found the plot to tilt more towards identity theft than the women who want his money and who act as accusations even if it is mentioned on several occasions. I am quite disappointed all the same, even though there are still quite strong scenes (the death of Serge by his fake daughter and the complicity of one of the women to cover her up, the murder also of the Real Stephane, as well as the investigators who reveal at the very end in front of the whole family the real identity and the fact that she stole the identity of the girl all this time, the false testimony of the false girl before the jurors and therefore the surprise of the testimony) I still find it good tied up and offers beautiful moments: I found the scenes of nudity pleasant: the women and their bodies are honored in the film on many occasions. Very sensual. A film definitely worth watching.

scam, scam, wham!!!

[ops-52535 · 7/10 · 4 April 2023]

Or whos knocking on the door as we now enter the heaviest of tv-crime season, at least here in norway, the easter holiday season. This could be a bullseye film for the norwegian broadcaster NRK, a film with loads of scamming, identity theft, envy, mistrust, love and death...

i shall admit i used some time to get into the playbook of this filmstory, but when i saw the cluedos of the game it was pretty exciting after all. I cant say the same about the music made for this story, simple keyboard scrambling of such low quality even i couldve done it.

The cast playing the caracters of this awkward family is good, and leaves a lot of signals that too much money aint always a recipie for familiar happiness...

i guess this flick will suit le femmes of the audience, and quite a performance thinks the grumpy old man, recommende'

The Origin of Evil

[CinemaSerf · 7/10 · 30 March 2024]

I'm beginning to think that Laure Calamy doesn't make rotten films. She's really quite effective in this story of greed and manipulation as "Nathalie" or is that "Stéphane"?. Hmmm! Well initially, she's incarcerated with her lover (Suzanne Clément) but next thing she's writing to her wealthy but estranged father (Jacques Weber). A reconciliation takes place and she is quickly whisked off to his opulent villa where she is introduced to his rather eccentric family. There's the profligate wife "Louise" (Dominique Blanc) who spends fifteen hundred Euros a day shopping on the internet; very sceptical and ambitious daughter "George" (Doria Tillier) and their slightly creepy maid "Agnès" (Véronique Saura). When the family discover that their new arrival has no ID, they begin to suspect she's not quite all she claims. He, on the other hand, is facing court proceedings to cuckold him and give control of his money to his grasping family. He hopes that his new daughter can testify to their love and strong relationship and convince the judge he's not lost the plot. What happens now allows Calamy to get her character under your fingernails. We know what's actually going on from fairly early on, so the plot plays second fiddle to the acting and those characterisations here are engaging. Plaudits also must go to Blanc who pulls off the slightly deranged wife with aplomb. The denouement has a delicious little twist to it that, though probably a bit unrealistic, does add that je ne sais quoi to the proceedings. It's a little too long and maybe takes fifteen minutes more than we need to set the scene and get going; but once we are up and running it's well worth a gander.

The most ferocious movie in years

[lorenzoc-81982 · 8/10 · 1 September 2023]

The Italian title is absurd. In the original it does "The Origin of Evil"... and then everything changes. It's NOT a comedy, it's the baddest movie of the last ten years. In comparison, the "Parenti Serpenti" of the unforgettable Monicelli... are collegians. Nothing is as it seems nobody is who it seems. The plot unfolds in an absolutely intriguing way, revealing the truths little by little. The split screen in some sequences is even intelligent.

Doria Tiller is charming, colder than ice, she remind me about her opposite performance very heartfelt and warm in "Un amore sopra le righe" (Italian title) The hospital scene is... devilishly terrible... while the final scene... with that fabulous close-up that... For me 8/10.

Great in every aspect

[avindugunasinghe · 8/10 · 8 March 2024]

A woman tearing through the great distance between two distinctive worlds while doing all and anything to survive. A great story on the cruel ways of man. Story is predictable from the end of it's first quarter but it's the fateful twists and turns that's evermore interestingly keep the story alive. Great cinematography that brings the feminine theme very well. Visuals are excellent in portraying the intended emotions and setting the tone of each scene through visuals. Unique music that works well with the movie. There's a lot of good symbolisms such as how Serge name girls to understand where the origin of everything is. It's both funny and sad how perpetrator gets found and how Stephane's fate is decided. A great story that anyone would enjoy.

Marnier Gets Better With Each Film

[alanh20004 · 10/10 · 29 September 2023]

I saw THE ORIGIN OF EVIL at an AMC Theatre in Skokie, IL after the director Sebastien Marnier had noted that his film was released in over 200 theatres in the United States.

I had already watched Marnier's other two movies IRREPROCHABLE and SCHOOL'S OUT, and they are both remarkably self-assured and intelligent for a newer filmmaker; I was thrilled that his third movie is drawing attention.

THE ORIGIN OF EVIL is earmarked by the same wit that he had already displayed, but Marnier has honed his craft even more here. Casting seems to be a no-brainer, and everyone here especially Laura Calamy, who is something of a French it-girl, is a perfect fit.

American directors are simply less smart or do not care about the details in which Marnier swims. See this movie and clear your head of some of the Hollywood dreck.

The Talented Ms Ripley!

[Pairic · 8/10 · 1 April 2024]

The Origin of Evil; A French and Canadian Noir Black comedy which flirts with the slipstream of Horror. Nathalie (Laura Calamy) is a Ripleyesque character, an identity thief who now attempts to assume the role of Stephane the long lost daughter of a wealthy man, Serge (Jacques Weber). His family are not happy to see her, George (Doria Tillier), her "half sister" is especially suspicious. Serge's wife Louise (Dominique Blanc) is also unwelcoming at first but begins to see Nathalie as a possible companion. Though she works in a fish canning plant on the production line, Nathalie pretends that she owns the factory. It is certainly an odd household, Georges's daughter Jeanne (Celeste Brunnquell) describes it as a madhouse, Louise obsessively buys all sorts of things online, every room in the villa has unopened boxes, Jeanne continuously takes photographs. The family are uncaring towards Serge, bullying him since he had a stroke, not helping him up when he falls, trying to gain power of attorney over his business. The housekeeper Agnes is a spy for Louise and George. Serge sees Nathalie as a potential ally who can be a witness at his competency hearing. But there are many plot twists to come as Nathalie reveals hidden strengths to emerge as a very talented Ms Ripley indeed as her intentions become more refined. But even she has problems as her imprisoned lover ( Suzanne Clement) retains an interest in her. Sharp dialogue, an interesting use of split screen, sometimes up to five different viewpoints simultaneously and the darkest of humour speed this narrative along. Great acting from an ensemble cast. The ghost of Patricia Highsmith is smiling down on this production. Directed and Co-Written by Sebastien Marnier. 8/10.