The Northman

Eggers ne se précipite pas et s'évade dans la symbolique de nombreuses séquences oniriques, mais il ne trouve pas le temps d'expliquer et de représenter adéquatement les retournements clés dans les décisions du personnage principal. Cela est dû soit à un mauvais montage, soit à un scénario de l'auteur qui sait faire beaucoup de choses, sauf l'essentiel - raconter de manière complexe l'histoire et travailler avec sensibilité sur ses motifs. The Northman a réussi à me plaire avec son esprit de loup sanguinaire, sa singularité visuelle, son monde cinématographique propre et la cruauté que nous ne voyons plus dans le mainstream contemporain, mais plus le temps passe depuis que je l'ai vu, plus il ressemble à un film de série B audacieux avec un contenu mitigé plutôt qu'à un « grand film d'art ». (21/04/2022)

Ça fait la troisième fois que je vois un film de Robert Eggers et chaque fois, c’est différent. Côté thématique et structure narrative, rien de neuf sous le soleil cette fois-ci. Soulignons quand même qu’il travaille avec une légende scandinave préexistante, laquelle fut la principale inspiration pour le Hamlet de Shakespeare, donc si quelqu’un le qualifiait de Conan le Barbare sous champis, je ne le contredirais pas. Et bien que le développement des motivations et des émotions des personnages principaux dans le dernier tiers soit étrangement turbulent, il s'agit malgré tout d’un film très intéressant, visuellement convaincant et, dans le contexte d'une distribution cinématographique grand public, rafraîchissant. Ainsi, même si on est encore loin d’un film mainstream à proprement parler, Robert Eggers fait un pas dans cette direction-là. The Lighthouse reste mon œuvre préférée du réalisateur jusqu'à présent, mais aller voir cette boucherie nordique au cinéma n’était pas pour me déplaire. Et même si je crains que son destin ne s’avère aussi tragique que celui du récit de la vie d'Amleth, je lui souhaite un beau succès commercial. (18/04/2022)

The Witch remains my favourite, but I definitely enjoyed The Northman more than the overrated The Lighthouse. In the first half, I believed I would give it a full rating. It’s harsh, stylish and in the raid on the village scene, Alexander Skarsgård is a true “animal”. What I enjoyed the most were the shamanic rituals and the mythical scenes, balancing between hallucination/dream and the supernatural. But in the end, I have to deduct a point for something Eggers tried for the first time in this film, which didn’t convince me much: normal, positive human emotions; love, to be more specific. The Witch and The Lighthouse didn’t have anything positive, but here there’s a rather important story arc (between Skarsgård and Taylor-Joy) built on love, and, in my opinion, it doesn’t work at all. So much so, in fact, that until the last moment I was convinced that the infatuation on one side or the other (or both sides) was just a ruse that would result in some evil twist. (14/04/2022)

I was a little wary of The Northman. I found Robert Eggers's previous films interesting rather than really good, and I was worried that in the case of his new film, the trailers might lie and that the result would be torn between an attempt at epic Viking carnage and a not entirely accessible auteur style. But my worries were unwarranted. Eggers has kept himself very much in check as an artist and auteur in an unexpected way, and The Northman is a very audience-friendly film. There's not much room for any interpretations of images, dialogue or anything else; it's much more about the Viking carnage, which is quite simple at its core, and its creator is aware of that. If you accept the fact that Eggers simply wanted to revive a legend of betrayal and revenge, and more than anything else he was interested in showing the cruel world of the Vikings on screen and having a good time audiovisually, you'll be satisfied. Or maybe you'll be thrilled like me. Musically, it's a treat, the one-shot scenes of the attack of the town, with dozens of people dying and blood spurting, made my jaw drop to the floor, because it must have been a mad dash to think this up and organise it to work. But the result is worth it. There's nothing to fault the actors either, and the fantasy elements are inserted into the plot in a non-violent way and fit in perfectly naturally in a wild world full of strange rituals. I really enjoyed the two and a quarter hours. However, I can imagine that fans of The Lighthouse will be a little upset by this actually unexpectedly audience-friendly film. Personally, though, I haven't seen anything better than The Northman so far this year. (12/04/2022)

Fortunately, the big-studio system hasn't ground Robert Eggers down; despite the higher budget he has remained his own, uninhibited and original, although I think that of his three films so far this one is probably the least interesting. The narrative is not exactly flawless, especially in the middle part the story drags a lot, as if it doesn't know which way to go, but thank Odin it catches its breath again with the bloody climax and the final fight is an atmospheric blast. You will also enjoy the unusual insights into the life of the Old Norse, their customs and shamanic practices. The manly Skarsgård impresses with his animalism and muscularity, so his traditional puppy dog look doesn't matter. Nicole Kidman, on the other hand, is a horrible sight when the camera filter isn't mercifully working on her; facial liposuction is evil. Ageing also demands grace. (02/06/2022)