Vesper
In a post-apocalyptic future, a 13-year-old bio-hacker must survive by her wits – in a Lithuanian co-production brilliantly realised on a small budget.
Eddie Marsan and Raffiella Chapman
Vesper, the eponymous heroine of this remarkable film, is a resourceful young teenager who needs that quality if she is to survive. That's because Vesper is a futuristic drama set in a dystopian world. Such material is usually treated in features backed by a big studio with a budget that allows for spectacle and for the use of the most up-to-date special effects. Here, however, we have a work which, despite having been shot in English, is a co-production between France, Lithuania and Belgium and is the brainchild of Kristina Buozyte from Lithuania and Bruno Samper from France, they being co-directors and co-writers (in the latter case alongside Brian Clark). All of this might suggest some Europudding mishmash but, especially in the film’s first half, what we get instead is a stunningly well realised work that instantly draws the viewer in and grips the imagination.
The setting is a world that finds itself in what is described as The New Dark Ages. An ecological crisis has occurred, one in which genetic technology has failed to avert disaster leading instead to viruses and organisms escaping and wiping out edible plants, animals and much of the human population. The survivors fall into very different groups: those in power who live in citadels and have humanoid slaves known as jugs to serve them, those almost less than human who wander around scavenging and those in between like Vesper (Raffiella Chapman) who looks after her injured father who is paralysed (Richard Burke). We also encounter her uncle, Jonas (Eddie Marsan), but he ruthlessly trades with those in the citadels who have a need for blood which he supplies from the bodies of children under his control. Vesper despite being only thirteen years old has skills in synthetic biology which could enable her to bring new life forms into being. Partly in partnership with Camellia (Rosy McEwen) whom she encounters as a survivor when a plane from the citadel crashes in the area, it is Vesper’s endeavours which ultimately bring a touch of hope into this bleak world.
The impact of Vesper is down to several strong features. The production design conjuring up this menacing post-apocalyptic world is first class, its atmosphere greatly enhanced by Don Levy’s music score. The casting is spot-on too. Chapman is ideal as the heroine, this being a work which, while reflecting tales aimed at young adults, is no less impactful for older audiences. McEwen partners her well providing a suitable contrast and Marsan expresses the nastiness of Vesper’s uncle without falling into melodrama. Shot in widescreen, Vesper is also very well photographed.
If the first half of Vesper is an undoubted success., I am less certain about the second half. I have to admit that I am not generally a sci-fi fan and respond mainly to those works in that genre which, like 2006’s Children of Men use a futuristic setting to explore ideas and themes relevant to life as we know it. For quite a long time Vesper suggests a film that will do just that, but I found that ultimately it yielded less than I had expected in this respect. Furthermore, the almost two-hour running time came to feel too extended and nor did it help that some climactic scenes are played out in the darkness of night. All of the best and most effectively unsettling elements in Vesper are to be found in its first half which is also that part of the film in which the narrative grip is at its most compelling. However, fans of dystopian fiction may not share my reservations. In any case enough has been achieved on a small budget but with genuine imagination to ensure that Vesper is very much a work to be respected.
MANSEL STIMPSON
Cast: Raffiella Chapman, Eddie Marsan, Rosy McEwen, Richard Brake, Melanie Gaydos, Edmund Dehn, Matvej Burakov, Marijus Demiskis, Markas Elmontas, Titus Rukas, Markas Sagaitis, Nojus Buslevicius.
Dir Kristina Buozyte and Bruno Samper, Pro Kristina Buozyte, Daiva Jovaisiene and Asta Liukaityte, Screenplay Kristina Buozyte, Bruno Samper and Brian Clark, Ph Feliksas Abrukauskas, Pro Des Ramünas Rastauskas and Raimundas Dicius, Ed Suzanne Fenn, Music Dan Levy, Costumes Florence Scholtes and Christophe Pidre, Sound David Vranken.
Natrix Natrix Rumblefish/10.80 Films/EV.L Production-Signature Entertainment.
114 mins. France/Lithuania/Belgium. 2022. UK Rel: 21 October 2022 Cert. 15.