Before Me, The Flood (2021 Film)

Devant Moi, Le Déluge
Worldwide theatrical release poster
Directed by	Frédéric Paquin
Written by	Isaïe Auch
Produced by	Solène Ardouin Armand Pélissier
Starring	Felix Lafléche Jocelyn Marais Tamou Zniber
Cinematography	Claudine Rigal
Edited by	Martin Cordonnier
Music by	Vivienne Brosseau
Production company	Film Gaullice
Distributed by	Film Gaullice
Release date	October 17, 2021 (Montecara)
Running time	126 minutes
Country	Gaullica
Language	Gaullican

Before Me, The Flood (Gaullican: Devant Moi, Le Déluge) is a 2021 Gaullican horror and science-fiction drama directed by Frédéric Paquin and written by Isaïe Auch. The film follows many of Paquin's preferred directorial styles including mostly filming in black and white, liberal usage of long take shots and extensive uses of point-of-view shots. It stars Felix Lafléche, Jocelyn Marais and Tamou Zniber in main roles. Whilst Lafléche and Marais have collaborated with Paquin before, it marks Zniber's first appearance in Gaullican film following her successes in Tsabaran productions.

The film follows Captain Bonhomme, one of the survivors in a post-apocalyptic Verlois as he journeys across the destroyed city, frequently beset by visions before the apocalypse, as he wrestles with a guilt that throughout the film unravels itself to the audience.

Production began as early as late 2019, but was delayed due to scheduling conflicts between the actors. Production resumed in September of 2020 through early 2021. It was almost entirely filmed in Verlois and its surrounding suburbs, though sets were also utilised. The film premiered at the 82nd Montecara Film Festival, releasing in Gaullica and several select countries the following day on the 19th of October, with a full international release on the 22nd of the same month.

Plot

Captain Bonhomme (Felix Lafléche) roams an abandoned supermarket, its shelves long since cleared. Adorned in protective gear and a gasmask, Bonhomme continues to traverse across the ruined aisles of the supermarket, quietly and with caution, passing by countless skeletons in tattered clothes, frozen in poses. One, which Bonhomme inspects with sadness, cradles an object is no longer there. After these ruminations he is able to open what were clearly barricaded doors at the back of the store to the market's storage centre. This area is relatively untouched, though it becomes clear with the familiarity the captain has with it he has been here before. As he finishes filling his bag with an assortment of canned goods, a monstrous howl echoes across the building, causing him to startle and almost drop one of the cans. Drawing a bayoneted rifle he darts to an exit, able to escape whatever creature created the howl, and stumbles into the deserted and silent city of Verlois.

The city is draped in a thin veneer of snow and Bonhomme continues his journey back to his home, navigating past a congestion of cars and what appears to be an armoured vehicle submerged in debris from a fallen building. It is here Bonhomme is subject to his first memory of the past. He sees an unidentifiable silhouette of a woman and child, the latter chastising him in whispers, as they walk out of the door of a house. Resting a hand on the bonnet of one of the cars, his consciousness fades in and out as the perception of the world before him becomes muddled with that of his memory. He sees people within each vehicle, though as he looks again notices they are all faceless, and clawing at their closed windows. As he rushes between the vehicles, aiming to escape this torrent of hands, he looks back and realises the hands are no longer there -- save for a single opened palm tapping at the car window ahead of him. He wipes frost from the window and finds a woman seemingly trapped within.

Prying the frozen car's door open, Bonhomme interrogates the woman by gun-point until she identifies herself as Sandrine Ouvrard (Tamou Zniber) from Trousseau Hospital, one of the few remaining places of human habitation in Verlois. She explains that she took refuge in the vehicle from a nearby pack of wolves, and is nursing an injured leg. Ouvrard requests Bonhomme for assistance in returning to the hospital, which is described as being on the "other side of Chrétien Tower". In this moment Bonhomme experiences another conflation of reality as the silhouetted woman he saw before replaces Ouvrard, repeating the phrase "you said you would help" until he relents, and acquiesces to her request only to see Ouvrard smiling in the place of the apparition. The two begin to travel towards their destination, the looming presence of the rusting Chrétien Tower piercing above the skyline, and the faint echoes of a familiar howl repeat behind them.

The two converse and Bonhomme learns that Ouvrard was a primary school teacher before "it all went wrong" and that she held out hope by roaming the grounds of her former school for any surviving children. As they take a rest under the bridge that once led to Verlois' 'Confluence Quarter', Ouvrard fatalistically remarks to Bonhomme that their masks have no point and only prolong suffering. His reply comes with the proffering of one of the cans of food he found. They continue to converse and Ouvrard unwittingly admits to Bonhomme that she feels guilt for the deaths of her students, boys and girls no older than four or five, because of her absence at the day of "the incident". Telling her that the circumstances were out of her control, Bonhomme laments that no one can feel true guilt for their actions on that day due to the fact that no-one knew that the world would end on it. As their conversation begins to die down Bonhomme suggests that Ouvrard catches some sleep and he'll take the first watch. As she sleeps, Bonhomme begins a patrol of their camp beneath the bridge and begins methodically creating alarm systems out of tripwires and shards of glass. It is not long as he takes a long reflective watch over the Mareine river, that some of the shards of glass crack and a whimpering pant of pain. He draws his gun and flashlight, casting light in the direction, where we see a long contorted shadow -- but no caster of the shadow. Bonhomme moves to the shattered glass and finds thick, viscous blood coating some of the panels and casts light on a trail that descends down to the river. He elects not to pursue it and takes his turn to sleep.

Bonhomme awakes not in the damp, cold campsite they had made beneath the bridge but in what is presumably his house. Clambering out of bed, he finds himself dressed from head to toe in military attire and hears the sound of commotion and frying in the kitchen. As he enters the kitchen, the silhouettes of a woman and a child are there and they speak to him, but their voices are muddled and nonsensical. He replies to them yet finds no control in what he says, and after an increasingly tense breakfast as he struggles to resist the lure of the conversation, he heads to work. Arriving at the Ministry of Defence, Bonhomme meets with his superior Estienne Charbonnier (Jocelyn Marais) who gives him long and arduous security briefings pertaining to recent developments across the globe. Many of these statements are vague as it appears Bonhomme fades in and out of consciousness. Charbonnier ends the debriefing by telling Bonhomme that he has "complete faith and trust in his abilities" as well as assuring him he understands the gravity of the situation, but is confident Bonhomme will be able to reach a quick solution. Charbonnier clasps him on the shoulders and informs him that the Republic is with him as he leaves the office. As Bonhomme follows wordlessly to his command station, he collapses into his seat and shuts his eyes.

He is thrust awake, again, beneath the bridge over the Mareine by an increasingly impatient Ouvrard who tells him he's overslept. Unsure of where he is, it takes the captain a few moments to register Ouvrard before he audibly reconfirms their mission to arrive at Trousseau Hospital, and the two set off. Their conversation is less personal than their previous one, with Bonhomme dodging many of the questions thrown at him. He tells Ouvrard that he worked for the government, was ex-military and happened to be 'at the right place' at the time of the end of the world, but does not go further. She presses him on it, but his reply is silence as they continue throughout the abandoned streets of Verlois. As she prepares to ask him about his family, Bonhomme instead deflects the line of enquiry by informing her of the encounter with 'a monster' that evening. She chastises him for his negligence in failing to inform her as he woke her up.

For the next part of their journey the two travel in silence and continue their trek across the ruined streets of Verlois, until they come across the Poissonnière Metro Station. With the road ahead blocked by destroyed infrastructure and the remnants of a military checkpoint, they elect to get to the hospital by way of the underground. The underground is not lit, and Bonhomme passes Ouvrard a flashlight as he affixes one to his rifle. Passing through derelict subway trains, clambering over debris, and wading through hip-high water almost ends with Ouvrard drowning as her mask's seals crack and water begins to enter as she's submerged. Bonhomme heaves her out of the water, notices the cracks, and offers to end her suffering quickly -- only for Ouvrard to perform a field repair of the mask in front of him. Further into the underground Bonhomme halts their advance as they see fire flickering ahead and hear three distinct voices in conversation. The voices are joyous and regaling and whilst Bonhomme and Ouvrard listen in silence, it is revealed that two of the voices were once military soldiers stationed at the ministry of defence and the third was a civil servant.