Le Nid

An actor in his early forties, Pierre-Luc moves into the massive bunker that will be both his temporary home for the next few days, and the site of an experiment orchestrated by his wife, to which he agreed to participate in an attempt to salvage their relationship. Over the next few days, he’ll have to use his modest little camera to create therapeutic segments, meant to shed some light on the couple’s degenerating bond. But Pierre-Luc quickly loses his mind with all the pre-set rules that must be followed during this week of forced creation, eventually causing the grey area between imagination and reality to become increasingly blurred.

Pierre-Luc Brillant brilliantly supports the film on his shoulders with an honest and personal performance (he even shares his character’s name), in which he swiftly maneuvers between strong emotion and deadpan humour, imbuing this broken man with a firm sense of sympathy and humanity. Isabelle Blais (whose character also shares her name) is a highly troubling presence within the film as she dictates the rules of the game we’re witnessing. Pierre-Luc’s experiment soon becomes our own as we quickly realize that anything can happen when the whole place gets drowned in darkness. LE NID is an anxiety-building, huis-clos nightmare set within a vast and gloomy location, a film that shifts genres smoothly, passing through comedy, horror, drama and thriller. Director David Paradis uses an original approach that always keeps us guessing, slowly revealing his characters’ emotional baggage through several narrative reversals. The film is a mix of creative ideas, both plot-wise and aesthetically, featuring a terrific dual performance that renders the experience a surprising and unique one. – Translation: Guillaume Desbiens