Tomorrow at Dawn by Denis Dercourt

Two men are duelling in the woods. Their clothes, the way they talk and the references to “our beloved emperor” suggest that we are somewhere in the XVII century; however the lack of information makes it hard to contextualize this historic reconstruction. Where is this strange scenery? Who is the emperor they talk about, and what could have generated the duel?

Soon, the men remove their period costumes, put on trousers and ties and go home. We are definitely in the XX century, more specifically in the house of two adult brothers: the young one being passionate about fencing and a participant of a group which recreates historic battles and take it seriously enough to end up with a considerable number of injuries after every meeting.

The big challenge in this film is to make the public believe that a modern grown-up man could engage in such an activity; and that he could even drive his serious older brother to participate in it. For this reason, the screenplay works with psychological traits to justify their actions: the younger brother seems to suffer from some sort of mental disability and his brother is particularly traumatized by the recent break-up with his wife. Therefore, despite the fact that they are both approaching 40, they find themselves living in the same house again; and leaving home everyday to use their swords and defend the honour of the emperor.

It doesn’t take us long to realize that the film is based on a mechanism of actions that gradually become more and more important. The seriousness of the game increases, the enemies begin to really hate each other and the fictional identities invade the characters’ real lives. Giving up is no longer an option, since every act of violence engages the right to defend oneself; which legitimizes a chain of retaliation between rival groups.

The only problem is that the screenwriting and direction seem to work in two opposite directions. The narrative is structured in a way that always intensifies the actions, whereas the rhythm of the editing and the work of framing and composition do not change at all. When the film reached 90 minutes - a point at which the action should already be nearly unbearable, it still made the public in the room laugh every time a “soldier of the emperor” put away his sword to get in a modern big car. The dangerousness of the game is never really believable, the lives of the characters never seem to actually be in danger; and without the film fails in most of its intentions.

While the Cannes film festival has presented this year the work of directors who master the mechanism of increasing tension, such as Michael Haneke, French director Denis Dercourt shows he still has a lot to learn.

Bruno Carmelo