Cannes Film Festival 2023: THE OTHER LAURENS

The Cannes Film Festival is one of the biggest festivals of the year, churning the Oscar conversation into full gear while unofficially launching the summer blockbuster season. Transversing continents and oceans, the Cannes Film Festival brings to audiences an array of  stories and emotions, delivering the art of film from every corner of the world. Claude Schmitz‘s The Other Laurens is no exception, a western influenced thriller that quietly peels back the layers of a murder mystery where everyone is suspect. A slow burner of a film, it is as pensive as it is intriguing, its mysterious allure locking you in.

Multilayered Mystery

The opening of The Other Laurens is slow, alluding to a mystery not fully come to light yet as a young man speaks of seeing someone in the wasteland. The camera holds steady on the two men outside speaking of the ghost from the past few nights. There is little information given in their conversation, the camera focused and refusing to look away. As a mysterious woman exits behind them, she speaks to a “misunderstanding”, her refusal to speak the same language as the man in front of her crafting an immediate portrait of demeanor and stance. She makes no concession for others.

As she leads her fellow bikers away, the film transitions to Gabriel (Olivier Rabourdin), a down-on-his-luck private investigator barely making ends meet in the work he has dedicated his life to. Caring for his terminally ill mother, the loss of one family member brings the chance to reconnect with another. One night, his niece Jade appears at the door. While she is perturbed he did not show up for his brother’s funeral, Jade sees Gabriel as the only man who can find the true nature of her father’s death. While ruled an accident by the authorities, Jade is convinced that someone killed her father and is covering up the secrets of his demise.

As Jade leads her uncle into the heart of various suspects and unground dealings, Gabriel finds himself working through the demons of his past as well. And as the web of lies and mysteries grows, he may find there is only one way out.

Crafting a Thriller

The camera is the film’s biggest asset, not in its ability to capture but in how well it does it. There is a constant awareness of the power of the lens. Many times, the camera sits with its characters, in an almost vouyeristic, yet pensive state of contemplation. The camera gives us time to read the nonverbal performances and to fully take in the characters before us. This extends to not only the solitary moments our characters find themselves in, but the active moments as well. Throughout the film, the camera remains mostly stationary as the characters move around is set framing. While delivering a timeless feel, it also gives a sense of detachment from the action, allowing the characters to peel back the layers of the mystery for their audience without the camera crafting the information for us. This is the story they are working to tell, and the camera is just there to capture it.

At times though, The Other Laurens is missing an intensity and a sense of urgency. Even in the face of this, as an audience, you will find that you can’t look away. By film’s end, this is what sticks with you because the film does have an intensity to it that lies just below the surface – much like the secrets it is trying to uncover. Audiences will come to understand this contradiction of feeling as The Other Laurens manages feel unbalanced in its drawn out moments of travel and contemplation, causing the film to feel as though its intensity has become subdued. Sadly, this lingering contradiction during and following the film’s conclusion leaves its final moments less impactful than intended, feeling more of a putter than a bang.

Conclusion

The Other Laurens also posit its own views on Western culture and behavior. Shelby (Kate Moran) and her friend very rarely speak the native tongues of those they are in conversation with. There is a refusal to break free of their English language and speak both the French and Spanish they encounter. And when they do speak, there is a deeply ingrained sense of arrogance and entitlement which works as a self-perceived justification for behavior. Yet, the film is not unaware of the power of Western influence, both in the film industry and the world itself. Images and stories of 9/11 and the famous lyrics of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” exemplify the undeniable influence and recognition Western culture holds on the world – whether it is liked or not.

While Claude Schmitz‘s The Other Laurens may not be the most intense thriller at times, its slow-burn mystery will prove itself alluring and transfixing.

The Other Laurens premiered at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival!

Watch The Other Laurens