''Arthur, malédiction'' ( ''Arthur, curse'') is a 2022 French meta psychological horror film directed by Barthélemy Grossmann. It is the fourth installment in the ''Arthur'' film series, which is based on the children's fantasy novel series of the same name by

Luc Besson Luc Paul Maurice Besson (; born 18 March 1959) is a French film director, screenwriter and producer. He directed or produced the films ''Subway'' (1985), '' The Big Blue'' (1988), and '' La Femme Nikita'' (1990). Besson is associated with the ' ...

, and a spin-off to the trilogy. A standalone film, it is not part of the same continuity as the previous films and is set in the real world. The film stars an ensemble cast, and follows a group of ''Arthur'' fans who discover the house that was used as one of the trilogy live-action sequences set. However, during their weekend trip, the group find themselves being hunted down one by one by a group of deranged role-players. Production secretly started in 2020 in

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

. It is the first ''Arthur'' film to be rated "prohibited to spectators under 12 years old" by the French Cinematographic Works Classification Board and the first to be filmed in French language. It is also the only film in the series not distributed by

EuropaCorp EuropaCorp S.A. (stylised in opening logo as EUROPA CORP.) is a French motion picture company headquartered in Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris, and one of a few full service independent studios that both produces and distributes feature ...

following the company financial difficulty. ''Arthur, malédiction'' was released in France on 29 June 2022 by Apollo Films. It was poorly received by critics, and grossed only

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1 million against a €2 million budget, making it a

box-office bomb A box-office bomb, or box-office disaster, is a film that is unprofitable or considered highly unsuccessful during its theatrical run. Although any film for which the production, marketing, and distribution costs combined exceed the revenue after ...

Plot

Eight-year-old Alex and his friends Samantha, Jean, Mathilde, Renata, Maxime, Douglas, and Dominique gather to watch the film trilogy ''

Arthur Arthur is a common male given name of Brythonic origin. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. The etymology is disputed. It may derive from the Celtic ''Artos'' meaning “Bear”. Another theory, more wi ...

''. Alex expresses his dream of becoming a Minimoy. Ten years later, 18-year-old Alex disguises himself as Arthur to evade the gendarmes. Meanwhile, Jean, Renata, Maxime, Dominique, Douglas, and Mathilde prepare for Alex's birthday party. Samantha surprises Alex by arriving dressed as Princess Selenia. They celebrate with cake and presents. Later, they watch the films again and discover that their friends Momo and Pilou have found the house used as a film set. Excited, the group embarks on a journey to find the house. During their trip, they encounter strange events. In a quiet town, the locals observe them closely. They then come across a house where an inhabitant warns them about the dangerous surroundings and shoots his gun to scare the friends away, making them run back to their car. Undeterred, they find a road leading to the house but are halted by a fallen tree. Alex, Samantha, and the others continue on foot while Renata marks the path with ribbons. The friends explore the house, finding the film props and a hatch leading to the basement. Upstairs, they discover camping equipment belonging to Momo and Pilou. Maxime and Dominique join the others upstairs, while Alex and Samantha explore the basement. Meanwhile, Mathilde gets stung by bees in another room and dies due to her bee allergy. They find a blocked door and decide to regroup with the rest. However, Jean startles them by appearing in full film character makeup. The group sets up camp near the house, enjoying the evening. Alex and Samantha confess their feelings for each other and share a kiss. During the night, Alex has a nightmare about Momo, Pilou, and himself being attacked. He wakes up to see lights in the distance but receives no response when he calls out. The next day, they find their food eaten, and Douglas sets off to buy supplies. Maxime and Dominique discover Momo hanging upside down from a tree, and Maxime gets caught in a bear trap. Dominique frees Maxime, but Momo falls to his death. Meanwhile, the rest of the group finds a hole that resembles the gateway to the Minimoy kingdom. They lower Jean with a camera, but something pulls him down, and Alex saves him by cutting the rope. Tensions rise, and Renata suggests they go home. However, they notice Dominique and Maxime being attacked near the car. Alex and Jean rush to help but arrive too late. They decide to warn Renata and Samantha, but Samantha gets kidnapped and dragged into the basement. Alex and Jean follow to rescue her, but Alex gets knocked out by a strange monster who fooled them by blending into the walls. They awaken tied up and surrounded by people dressed as Matassalai, characters from the ''Arthur'' trilogy. The Matassalai plan to send Alex into the world of the Minimoys, but Jean cuts the rope and starts a fight with them. Samantha tries to get help but encounters Minions and even a person dressed up as the villain Maltazard, who stabs Renata. Alex and Jean manage to escape, and Samantha is saved by the paranoid inhabitant of the house who points his gun at them, telling them to never go into the house again. Alex promises, and the inhabitant leaves with his Dobermans. The police arrive, and the attackers are revealed to be drug-addicted teenagers who do role-playing games such as Batman vs. Superman. When they find out about the Arthur films, they decide to role-play those. Mathilde is announced dead due to being stung by bees in the next room, and the bodies of their friends will be repatriated. As they leave the scene, Alex spots an individual watching them from the house. In the aftermath, the house is surrounded by police and medical examiners, dealing with the bodies of the attackers and their friends. Alex, Samantha, and Jean leave in a police van, unaware of the person observing them from the house.

Cast

* Mathieu Berger as Alex * Thalia Besson as Samantha * Lola Andreoni as Mathilde * Mikaël Halimi as Douglas * Yann Mendy as Jean * Jade Pedri as Renata * Vadim Agid as Maxime * Marceau Ebersolt as Dominique * Ludovic Berthillot

Production

Principal photography began in secret in the summer 2020 in

, where the original films were filmed and using the same house, between the first and second lockdown during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. It lasted 33 days.

Release

Theatrical

''Arthur, malédiction'' was released in France on 29 June 2022 by Apollo Films. It is the first film in the ''Arthur'' series that

only produce but do not distribute.

Home media

''Arthur, malédiction'' was released in France on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

, and digitally on 7 December 2022 by

, with distribution handled by ESC Distribution. A

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...

edition was planned but was canceled without explanation.

Reception

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, the film obtained an average score of 1.8 out of 5 on the Allociné site, which lists four press titles.. Few press outlets have reviewed the film, which reflects the lack of enthusiasm and interest for this installment of the series. Despite this, Le Parisien gave a positive review, stating that it "takes its time to raise the tension and does not overbid, but the result is entertaining and effective."

Les Inrockuptibles ''Les Inrockuptibles'' () is a French cultural magazine. Started as a monthly magazine in 1986, it became weekly in 1995. Now it is a monthly again, since 2021. In the beginning, rock and roll, rock music was the magazine's primary focus, though ...

gave the film a negative review, claiming that it "even if it looks like a desperate headlong rush that will probably be a landmark, ''Arthur, Curse'' has at least a certain audacity for him, and can, in spite of any form of good taste, to be called without trembling of the chin of the unheard of." Large Screen and

Télérama ''Télérama'' is a weekly French cultural and television magazine published in Paris, France. The name is a contraction of its earlier title: ''Télévision-Radio-Cinéma''. Fabienne Pascaud is currently managing editor. Ludovic Desautez is de ...

were both incisive, with Large Screen saying it's "the absolute renunciation of everything that founded uc Besson'scinema, and Télérama saying they "witnessed a game of massacre as imaginative as a credit card ticket, suffered by young unknown actors (including Thalia Besson, the producer's daughter) who probably did not deserve this."

Controversies

Shortly after its release, several students from the

Cité du Cinéma The Cité du Cinéma or Studios of Paris is a film studio complex originally supported and founded by the film director and producer Luc Besson, located in Saint-Denis, in the northern suburbs of Paris, in a renovated power plant, commissioned in ...

, a film school founded by

, denounced that they were asked to work on the film for free and uncredited. A former student of the school detailed the dangers and abuses when working with Besson, who they further accused of taking advantage of his students' inexperience. On

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, Arthur Reudet, a young assistant-director and alumn of the Cité du Cinéma, remarked, without explicitly accusing Besson of plagiarism, that ''Arthur, malédiction'' had several similarities with a

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

he directed in 2017, based on the same screenplay, starring Shannah Besson, one of Luc Besson's daughters..

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Arthur, malédiction 2022 films 2022 controversies 2022 horror thriller films 2022 psychological thriller films 2020s French films 2020s French-language films 2020s psychological horror films EuropaCorp films Film controversies Film controversies in France Film spin-offs Films based on children's books Films involved in plagiarism controversies Films produced by Luc Besson Films shot in Normandy Films with screenplays by Luc Besson French horror thriller films French psychological horror films French psychological thriller films Horror films based on children's franchises Metafictional works Obscenity controversies in film