You had one shot!---Laia Costa as a woman who finds herself in the world of crime after a crazy night out in Victoria
It's hard to imagine a more unpleasant film than Victoria, a French so-called thriller all done in one shot, being made but I suppose it is entirely possible if a lot of effort were put into it. It's hard to imagine what went so wrong in the production of this film. They had a great idea both from a filmmaking and writing standpoint and yet they managed to make a film that is simultaneously empty, with not much of anything happening and thoroughly unpleasant to sit through. The film is shot in one take, which was better executed in last year's Birdman and more substantial of a technique in Russian Ark. Here, it is such a gimmick that even the few things to like about the film (Laia Costa's lead performance being the main one) end up playing second fiddle to the distracting camerawork.
The film stars Costa as Victoria, a French woman who meets a group of seemingly fun men at a nightclub. She then proceeds to spend an hour screwing around with them and not doing anything worth watching. Then, they ask her to be the driver for a job that they strongly keep confidential. The fact that this character is too stupid to realize how suspicious it is that they won't even give her a hint about the job isn't the first thing that will make audiences thoroughly dislike her, but it's the most apparent. Then, she and the gang get pursued for cops for an hour and 15 minutes.
Yes, this film is two hours and 15 minutes, which means it's about 125 minutes too long. This is a cool idea for a short film (a very, very, very short film) but as a feature length film (and a longer than average one at that,) it milks the plot (what little of it there is) to a point of utter frustration. After not so long, you just wish this group would make a suicide pact and the credits would roll over the sound of a gunshot. W
Writer-director Sebastian Schlepper also seems to have no intent to be inventive. Why not make these people more than just unlikable, one dimensional characters? Why not give Victoria and at least one of the guys some sort of backstory? Without any reason to wanna follow these characters, the audience is just left staring into an empty void of nothing. Right off the bat, it is clear why all of these people are such lonely, miserable souls. Why would anyone besides others of their ilk wanna be around them? Why would audiences want to watch them for over two hours? It's such an unpleasant thing to sit through.
Costa is good and clearly tries to make an effort to bring something to this character but the writing lets her down every single time. She's clearly got a future but not in pictures that are this low on quality. As for the rest of the cast, they let the writing be their guide, which is a very bad idea they should have known not to do. By making the writing their guide to performing, they form bland, unlikable characters with no purpose. At least Costa is trying to some degree.
Victoria is the most unpleasant film I have had the displeasure of viewing. Each frame made me feel icky and each second moved incredibly slowly to the finish line. By the time the incredibly stupid ending came, I was just happy to finally be walking out of the theater. There's a way to do this type of film but clearly Schlepper doesn't know what that way is.
(1/2 out of 5 Stars, The film is Not Rated)
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