Unfortunately I saw director Yannis Veslemes's “She Loved Blossoms More” on the second-last night of MIFF when I was suffering from both exhaustion and burnout, whilst also coming off my worst film at this year's festival just prior to walking into this. To say that my concentration levels during “She Loved Blossoms More” may have been affected is an understatement, and to be totally honest my memory of the film is a little cloudy in parts, but I do remember liking it a lot and thinking that it was the weirdest film I saw at MIFF this year.
This is a sad tale about grief and a family who is struggling to let go or move on since their mother's untimely death. Instead of dealing with their grief, the three brothers, who have the bizarre names of Hedgehog, Japan and Dummy, (along with their French father) all attempt to make progress at bringing their mother back to life, by creating a time machine out of a simple wardrobe. The brothers theorise if they can send something to another dimension, then it stands to reason that they can bring something back also. However their attempts have been disastrous, including one try which left a chicken headless with his body in one dimension and its head in another. Taking a drug-fuelled break from the experiments, the brothers along with Samantha (one of the boy's girlfriend) attempt to relax, before Hedgehog starts talking to a giant flower (that looks remarkably like a woman's vulva) coming from his mother's grave, that insists that he should try his experiment with Samantha. Since the flower speaks with his mother's voice, Hedgehog goes ahead with the flower's plan, which doesn't go at all well, especially for Samantha.
Did I happen to mention that “She Loved Blossoms More” is bloody weird? Even though the two films share nothing in common, while I was watching “She Loved Blossoms More” I could not help but be reminded of Panos Cosmatos's “Mandy”. The reason you ask? Because both films have a singular and unique vision, that may not make sense to the audience the whole time, but I am sure is exactly the world that the director wanted us to see. Even when certain scenes or moments are not entirely successful, it is still 100% true to their vision. There are so many weird elements in “She Loved Blossoms More” but they feel real and believable in the world Veslemes has created. One thing I loved about the science fiction elements to the film was how analogue everything felt. The computers and their graphics have a retro feel to them, as does the “time machine” itself.
As soon as “She Loved Blossoms More” started, with its thick visual appearance, I immediately thought that it had to have been shot on film, and possibly even 16mm film. Unfortunately I have been unable to find any information to confirm my hypothesis on this, but I will say that it is a stunningly shot film by cinematographer Christos Karamanis who moves the camera in a very slow manner which matches the character's own speed of movement, while using cramped compositions and a large array of neon lighting to create the brother's obsessive world while leaning into a retro sci-fi aesthetic. When talking to someone recently, I mentioned that the film looked like it was taking place through an opium haze (which I feel is also apt due to the amount of drugs the characters take, and the pace they themselves move through this world). I also mentioned that the look reminded me of a combination of those early Jeunet and Caro films like “Delicatessen” and Lucile Hadzihalilovic's 2021 film “Earwig”.
One of the greatest elements of “She Loved Blossoms More” is its wonderfully detailed production design. While the entire film essentially takes place in one location, the boy's house, you never get bored because there is so much to look at in each room. The special effects team also deserve a huge pat on the back for their glorious practical effects, like the piglet who gets turned inside out during a failed experiment (in an obvious nod to David Cronenberg and “The Fly”), to the headless chicken that wanders around the house, to the split face/three-eyed version of Samantha, to the very weird puppet effects used for the father late in the movie. It is all brilliant and gory stuff, and most importantly tangible because it was made for real and not on a computer.
I am not going to go through everyone's performances but I will say that the three guys playing the brothers do a great job of portraying their obsession of bringing their mother back to life, with more than a hint of melancholy. What is interesting about this is that it is alluded to that she is not the lovely woman the boys remember or idolise as such. This is even shown via the title which is a truncated line in the film, which the full version is “she loved blossoms more than her own kids”. Who I do want to mention is Sandra Abuelghanam who plays Samantha and totally steals every scene she is in. She is a burst of energy and light in this quite dark film, and like all the brothers, you immediately fall in love with her and her love of life. She is just fantastic. Dominique Pinon shows up in the brief role of the boy's French father, and while he is his usual excellent self, his inclusion in the cast screamed that French money was used to help produce the film.
As great as “She Loved Blossoms More” is, I must say that I didn't think its ending was totally satisfying; in fact I found it more than a little confusing. Maybe that is on me for thinking a film as weird as this one would end on a concrete note, but I found the last ten to fifteen minutes muddled some of what came before it. Is what we are seeing real or is this a fantasy of one of the boys? I have my own theory but I cannot speak of it without destroying what happens at the end, so I will just say that it wasn't as strong as the rest of the film before it.
Overall, I thought Yannis Veslemes's unique and very weird vision he had for “She Liked Blossoms More” was something special and I enjoyed it immensely. It is a gorgeous looking film, filled with brilliant practical effects and some absolutely weird-as-all-heck story beats. While it isn't always successful, I loved its boldness and vision, and always prefer when something is original compared to the same old stuff. “She Liked Blossoms More” was a total blast, a wild trip, and the weirdest film that played at MIFF this year. Highly recommended!
3.5 Stars.
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