Xavier Gens is a French filmmaker who started out in Hollywood with the action film Hitman (2007). He also did a horror segment in the anthology film The ABC's of Death (2013). He did a monster movie called Cold Skin (2018) that was about a man fighting against natural or supernatural creatures from the sea. That film was about civility and compassion, as it related to a struggle between the humans and the sea creatures, culminating in an explosive climax. That film also tackled what were issues of colonization and xenophobia. After that 2018 film, Gens stopped doing English-language narratives and focused mainly on French-language projects, including the heist series Lupin (2021) and a martial arts flick called Farang (2023). Yet, there seems to be something about Cold Skin that Gens really liked because this film feels very similar, except the sea creatures in question here are sharks.
Films about those large predatory fish are practically a genre in and of themselves. It's a genre that ranges from Steven Spielberg's Jaws (1975) to Syfy's Sharknado (2013). In terms of tone, if not technique or budget, there are some films that lean more toward Spielberg's classic blockbuster like Open Water (2003) or The Shallows (2016) that have a more realistic and grounded nature to them. There are others that lean more toward the Syfy Channel's version, such as Deep Blue Sea (1999) or The Meg (2018) that have a more ridiculous and fantastical nature. Either Spielberg or Syfy, both kinds of shark films can be entertaining and fun. Which one you prefer can be subjective. I tend to prefer the more Spielberg-like versions. However, the Syfy versions can be good for a laugh. Gens' film seems to prefer both and wants to be both. It starts out as a homage to Jaws before it then descends into Sharknado territory. I was with the film for that homage but not really with it into the descent.
Bérénice Bejo (The Past and The Artist) stars as Sophia Assalas, a woman who seems to be a marine biologist who specializes in studying sharks. She has a team that goes into the water and wants to know the effect that pollution, such as the dumping of plastics into the ocean, is having on the aquatic animals. She's tagged a shiver of sharks with tracking devices. Her team wants to get information on "beacon seven," which is a tag on a certain shark named "Lilith." When her team finds Lilith, they learn that it has grown into a larger size than they originally thought. Lilith is in fact giant, probably somewhere in between that of a Great White Shark and a Whale Shark. Why she's so big is never explained.
At first, the film seems to be exploring the issues of pollution and the dangers all the plastics in the ocean might have. Yet, aside from the opening images, the plastic in the ocean doesn't come back into play unless this whole thing is meant to be a kind of revenge metaphor where we see nature striking back for the pollution that humanity has wrought to the seas. In general, it could have been like another Spielberg classic, that of Jurassic Park (1993) where the hubris of man and science causes an extreme backlash. Essentially, that's what Gens' film is going for, but it doesn't really land it. Like Sharknado, this film just needs a lame excuse to get sharks to a place where you wouldn't expect them. In this case, that unlikely location is the Seine River, as well as the Catacombs of Paris.
Nassim Lyes is a French-Algerian actor who was in Gens' Farang film, also titled Mayhem! (2023). Lyes has also been in other Netflix programs, such as The Spy (2019) and Marseille (2016). Here, Lyes co-stars as Adil Faez, a police sergeant with Paris' river brigade. He and his team ride by boat along the Seine River patrolling the downtown area. Paris is preparing for the 2024 Summer Olympics and one of the main events is the Triathlon, which features over 100 athletes swimming in the Seine River. Adil's job is to make sure that the Seine River is a crime-free area. It might also be his job to make sure that the area is clear of homeless people. Yet, we see him befriending unhoused individuals along the Seine. He can be tough but also compassionate.
What we learn though is that Adil used to be in the army. He left military service because he abandoned a hostage mission because he was scared. He regrets his actions because his fellow soldiers ended up dying. He blames himself. His emotions parallel Sophia's feelings of guilt, which she has for the presence of Lilith in the Seine River. The first hour or so of this film is essentially a character-piece about these two grappling with their remorse or shame. The film doesn't do as much with it, as to be totally effective. The performances from Bejo and Lyes are enough to sell it though. Arguably, no one watching this film will care much about these two, as they're likely to be more curious about the shark attack scenes.
Unfortunately, those shark attacks are what really push the film into Sharknado territory. A positive aspect is that the actors were put into real water, either in tanks or the actual Seine in downtown Paris in view of the Eiffel Tower and other Parisian landmarks. It's not like Aquaman (2018) or its sequel where the water and everything in it is CGI. It's not to say that CGI wasn't utilized for this film. It seems as if all the sharks here are computer-generated and when we see them on screen, it is the height of ridiculousness and it absolutely breaks our suspension of disbelief. Instead of being scary, which is likely the intent, the sharks and the shark attacks all look and feel rather comedic. Unlike The Meg, this film isn't going for any kind of comedy or humor, so it's rather jarring when it happens. Bejo and Lyes have great chemistry together and give a counterweight to that unintentional comedy, but, for me, it wasn't enough to keep this film afloat.
Sous la Seine.
Rated TV-MA for gore, language and violence.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 43 mins.
Available on Netflix.