INEXORABLE

Fabrice du Welz, Belgium/France, 2021, DCP, 98′, English subtitles

 

Inexorable, the latest creation of the Belgian master of arthouse genre fare Fabrice du Welz is a slow-burning thriller filled to the brim with tension, lies and desires. The premise is simple. There is a well-off family. There is the father, a successful novelist, struggling with a writer’s block. And there is the imposter. The film unfolds slowly until past secrets are uncovered, blood is shed and tempers are lost – and yet the most chilling moment may just as well belong to a little girl’s uncanny death metal stage act.

“Written by Joséphine Darcy Hopkins, Aurélien Molas, and Du Welz, the film touches on a number of juicy themes – nepotism, marital longevity, the myth of the literary genius, Belgium’s fascist legacy – while steadily building toward a series of confrontations as shocking as they are, in hindsight, inevitable. Executed with classical panache, Inexorable brims with dread, intrigue, and bracing psychological insights.”
– Diana Sanchez, TIFF

“Inexorable: that which we cannot escape. Right from the outset, the various characters are fated to meet their destiny. The first lie acts as a revelation, a grain of sand which methodically causes the great machine to fail. Despite their strength, their lies, their hesitations and their resistance, the characters hurtle head-long towards the final, terrible resolution.”
– Aurore Engelen, Cineuropa