Les Revenants

Ezgi Yurt

Les Revenants (2004), directed by, Robin Campillo, is an example of an untypical Zombie Film that is separated from the other conventional Zombie Films. Of course, there are huge differences as a part of the narrative. However 'Zombie Imagery' in Les Revenants is a significant narration element for the film's point of view. In this review, I will focus on some keywords such as Gothic and return of the repressed and I will shape the argument around how these Zombies threaten everyday life in the capitalist system. To take the argument of this review a step further, I will improve the analysis by examining these Gothic and Zombie Films' elements together.

zombie, gothic, return of the repressed, capitalism

Zombie films as the subgenre of Horror bear some common conventional narrative resemblances for reflecting repressions but at the same time Zombie imagery is different from the Horror genre conventions in the context of the relation between the capitalist system and the Zombie Genre. In Les Revenant (2004), directed by Robin Campillo, the placement of Zombie Imagery differs greatly in regard to its narration components. The argumentation of this critique is framed around the problem of ‘gothicized’ fear, the problem of the return of the past ‘system’. Gothic genre helps to understand ‘gothicized fear’ and ‘return of the repressed’.  Its conventions, such as ghosts, make it possible  to read Zombie and Gothic together. Consequently, this critique contemplates arguing about this problem through questioning the similarities and differences of zombie imagery.


Jason Wallin argues about the problems of zombie cinema through some keywords and reference films with that keyword. ‘‘...the intractable problems of viral contagion (Plague of the Zombies, 28 Days Later, Pontypool), toxic contamination (Dawn of the Dead, Return of the Living Dead), unchecked scientific experimentation (28 Weeks Later), unabated economic exploitation, and interminable class warfare (Dead Snow, Land of the Dead).’’ (Wallin, 2012, 249). In Zombie Cinema, those problematic keywords are conveyed through ‘Zombie Imagery’ that Julia Kristeva mentioned in Power of Horror as ‘All Abjection’ (as cited in Wallin, 2012, 250). In Les Revenant, When the audience seeks out the Zombie Imagery, they can grasp ‘Zombie Imagery’ at the level of narrative in the great part of the film. At the beginning scene of the film, the ‘‘Zombies’’ (or less revenants - means ‘‘ghosts’’) return back as living deads. However, if this scene is separated from the whole of the film it is hard to say ‘‘they are zombie’’. There is no ‘abject’ zombie imagery that is codified as living dead in the film. Also the audience gets ‘unconscious living dead’ information from the dialogue of the film. The committee which is established for living dead inform audience about ‘living dead’ during the film. Mireille M. Lee mentions the binary opposition between gender and age in ancient Greece ‘‘...men’s bodies were thought to be dry and warm, whereas women were moist and cold; children were both moist and warm, while old men were moist and cold.’’ (Lee, 2015, 56). The same is true in the movie. The key determining factor is body temperature as mentioned or in the dialogues that human has a warm body and living dead has a cold body. As it can be seen there is a binary opposition between human and living dead. At this point the return of the past system can be argued, which the living dead in Les Revenants is referred to. The name of the film gives some clues as to what ‘gothicized’ fear of return of the past system means. Les Revenant means ‘Ghosts’ that have a very special place in Gothic Culture. In Gothic World Book chapter twenty-seven, Brewster mentions ‘‘As Gothic has taken on new forms, so criticism has diversified: the theoretical perspectives deployed to examine Gothic range from psychoanalysis, Marxism, feminism and gender studies, through to new historicism, deconstruction, queer theory, post- colonialism, film theory and cultural studies.’’ (Brewster, 308). After 1900 to present, Gothic has been examined in a different form. In some classical old gothic films, ghosts have the more significant place in Gothic Cinema than Horror genre. Ghosts indicate the past, so it can be analyzed as a return of the repressed at the political or personal level. In Les Revenant, These ghosts have bodies but their bodies are the same. For example, the child who died 4 years ago in the film has his body which is like 4 years ago. Even those people with ‘normal’ human bodies are defunct and they evoke the past times for their families. This situation slows down the everyday life and people start to take care of their past. Even executives try to put living dead to their old jobs, living dead people are unconscious and this decelerates everyday life too. In other words, living deads are just wreckers for capitalist system. Mobility is not possible any longer. The combination of the components of gothic and zombie genres problematize the return of the repressed in terms of the capitalist system. If It is needed to analyze the narration elements of the last scene, after ‘Zombies’ revolution, humans carry and put zombies in their graves. In other words, humans don’t bury their past properly again in the narrative base. In that scene, Zombies disappear slowly on the frame in the way of ‘dissolve cut’. In the middle gap of dissolve cut zombies are in between existence and the extinction.


Therefore, Different from Zombie movies that Wallin mentioned, Les Revenant states different problems about capitalist system. Same as the Gothic in Zombie Cinema, old systems exist in the capitalist system. Likewise, they were sleeping and then they woke up. This awakening state doesn’t take an action at a random time period. This awakening can correlate with economic and political crisis periods. As in the film, they return back silently to the system and grow their voice gradually.


BIBLIOGRAPHY

-     Wallin, J. (2012). Living ... Again: The Revolutionary Cine-Sign of Zombie- Life. Psychoanalyzing Cinema, 249-270. http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/9781... -  Lee, M. (2015). Bodies, dress, and identity in ancient Greece. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. - Byron, G., & Townshend, D. The gothic world.

Twitter Google Plus Facebook