Maelström (film)

''Maelström'' is a 2000 Canadian absurdist psychological drama film written and directed by Denis Villeneuve. It stars Marie-Josée Croze as a depressed young businesswoman who becomes romantically involved with the son of a man she killed in a hit-and-run accident. Employing fantasy and comedic elements, ''Maelström'' is narrated by a talking fish.

Villeneuve conceived of the story, basing it on his interest in car accidents and modelling the protagonist after various women he knew. He cast Croze, then a novice actress, in the lead role. Filming took place in Montreal in 1999, with animatronics to depict the fish narrator.

The film premiered at the Montréal World Film Festival, including Best Motion Picture, and the FIPRESCI Prize at the 51st Berlin International Film Festival. ''Maelström'' was announced as Canada's submission for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film at the 73rd Academy Awards, but it was not nominated.

Plot

While being gutted alive by a fishmonger, a dying fish chooses to share a story that took place in Quebec during the autumn of 1999. A 25-year-old businesswoman named Bibiane Champagne, head of three clothing boutiques, has an abortion. She is interviewed by a journalist about her success and being the daughter of a famous person named Flo Fabert. Bibiane claims business is good, but her partner and brother, Philippe, accosts her for numerous failures. She is supported by her friend, Claire, but struggles with drugs and alcohol.

One night, while driving, Bibiane accidentally hits a 53-year-old Norwegian Canadian fishmonger, Annstein Karson, and subsequently flees the scene. Injured, Annstein stumbles back to his apartment, where he dies at the kitchen table. While at a restaurant, Claire and Bibiane order octopus but discover it is stale. The restaurant investigates the poor quality of octopus and realize the usual octopus trapper, Annstein, is missing, and the police find him dead. Bibiane reads confirmation of the death in a newspaper, and considers turning herself in; she confides in a stranger on a subway and consults him about turning herself in, but he tells her this will not bring the victim back. She eventually decides to dispose of the evidence, driving her car into a river. She survives, and interprets her survival as a sign that she deserves to recover her life.

The fishmonger's son Evian, a diver who was recently inspecting the Manicouagan River, learns Annstein was cremated. This went against his plans for burial at sea. He encounters Bibiane by chance, and she poses as his late father's neighbour, helping Evian sort through Annstein's possessions. Evian falls in love with her, and she takes him away from a planned flight to have sex at her apartment. He later learns the plane crashed in Baie-Comeau with no survivors, and Bibiane tells him that she killed his father. Conflicted about his love for his father's killer, a stranger in a bar (the same man from the subway) tells him to marry her and never tell anyone.

Bibiane accompanies Evian to Lofoten to dispose of the ashes. Finally, the fish narrator decides to conclude his story by revealing the meaning of life, but is killed mid-sentence.

Production

Development

Director Denis Villeneuve conceived of a story, that would revolve around a car accident:

For Bibiane, Villeneuve modeled the character after numerous women he knew, one of whom he described as a " mythomaniac", like Bibiane. He began making notes on the story in spring 1998, while finishing his film '' August 32nd on Earth'', but set it aside as "too difficult", given its detached heroine. He began working on the ''Maelström'' screenplay again later that year, due to his persistent visions of the story. He began pitching the screenplay, and later said some readers told him it gave them nightmares, and that it was "too dark and heavy", though Villeneuve regarded it as nearly comedic. Downplaying the dark subject matter, he described the story as "a playful call to be responsible and to be careful". In his efforts for "balance" in respect to the abortion scene, Villeneuve said he was pro-choice but the operation "should never be taken lightly".

The inspiration for the narration was a trout he had for dinner, which gave him food poisoning. This led him to choose a fish as the storyteller, which he also liked because it would add "a purely fictional element" to an otherwise realistic story. He had also contemplated the alternative of a talking dog, based on a puppy his family had recently adopted, but preferred the metaphor of "a fish out of water". In his story, the fish is being gutted and repeatedly dies only to resurrect and resume narration. Villeneuve explained this, saying, "For me it was the kind of image which was like all the storytellers from the beginning of humanity trying to tell a story, the same story over and over again. I think it's an image that is like my relationship with cinema. And then I think there's a link between storytelling and death".

Casting

In summer 1999, casting began. Villeneuve sought "someone with a very specific energy" for the lead, and during casting met novice actress Marie-Josée Croze for the first time. He chose her with no pressure from the financiers to choose a better-known star. Jean-Nicholas Verrault was cast with experience in television, while Stephanie Morgenstern was known for appearing in the 1997 '' The Sweet Hereafter''.

Filming

Principal photography started in Montreal in September 1999, lasting until November. The fish narrator was portrayed via animatronics; while inspired by a trout, the model was designed to resemble a prehistoric species "with big black eyes and a sad, gaping mouth".

Release

''Maelström'' premiered at the Montreal World Film Festival

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