Film review «Under Paris» / Sous la Seine

On June 5, the horror film «Under Paris» was released on Netflix. This is a new film by French director Xavier Jeans, who previously worked on the first adaptation of the cult stealth action game Hitman, and the mediocre horror films «The Crucifixion» and «Cold Skin», and also directed several episodes of the hit series «Lupin». In the review below, we’ll take a look at what Jeans offers the viewer in a genre that seems to have been said before.

«Under Paris» / Sous la Seine

Genre horror, action thriller
Director Xavier Jeans
Starring Berenice Bejo, Nassim Lieu, Anais Parello, Iñaki Lartigue, Lea Levian
Premiere Netflix
Year of issue 2024
Website IMDb

Three years ago, environmental activist Sofia was researching a mako shark named Lilith right in the middle of the Great Pacific garbage patch. The story ended tragically: Lilith tore to pieces three of Sofia’s colleagues, including her beloved husband. Today, still unable to forgive herself for what happened, the woman leads a lonely life, having abandoned the business that was once her true calling.

One day, the heroine meets some young conservationists who tell her that Lilith is swimming in the Seine, even though it is impossible. When Sophia is convinced of this, she joins forces with the Paris River Police to stop the dangerous predator. The situation is complicated by the fact that a triathlon competition is soon to take place on the Seine, and the mayor has already spent the budget on the event and cannot cancel it because of some mythical shark. When Steven Spielberg released his «Jaws» almost half a century ago, he gave the world not only a reference Hitchcockian thriller, but also, in fact, pointed the industry in the direction that today gives us the phenomenon of the «summer blockbuster». After this literally epoch-making film, it was impossible to stop making films about bloodthirsty sharks, but the film business is known to always squeeze the maximum and even more out of successful ideas.

So today we have a number of films about unfriendly fish — from the pre-flood «Piranha Part Two: The Spawning», with which James Cameron made his debut, to the more modern «Shallows», where a desperate surfer played by Blake Lively fought for her life with a shark one-on-one. From the frankly bizarre sharksploitation «Sharknado» — to the 130 million dollar blockbuster «The Meg», which tells the story of Jason Statham’s battle with a huge megalodon. The same «Jaws» got three sequels, one worse than the other. Even «Suicide Squad» has its own King Shark. So, did Jeans’ painting manage to stand out against this diversity? As expected, no. The creators tried to move the action to a less obvious location — the underwater catacombs of Paris, as well as to dilute the plot political satire. However, none of the above added any core to the story that would have made us watch the twists and turns with genuine interest.

It would not be an exaggeration to call «Under Paris» a boring film because it does not properly realize itself in any of the current genres. As a horror, it lacks qualitatively frightening moments, as a thriller — it lacks suspense, as an action — it lacks actual exciting action. Moreover, the hard-headed politician who refutes all hints of a possible catastrophe and convinces others that the situation is under control, and they can celebrate to their heart’s content hardly triggers; everyone knows that karma will catch up with the woman in the end.

The movie becomes a bit more interesting, but also absurd, in the second half, closer to the ending, when the narrative becomes noticeably more active. The screen begins to show a light version of the bloody chaos from the «Piranha» franchise of the movie. 2010s. Here, Jeans allows himself to show several bitten off limbs and spectacular scenes with shark pirouettes. But if the creators of «Piranha» did not even hide the fact that they were making a frankly frivolous trash, the authors of «Under Paris» play serious cinema with an important environmental message that does not go well.

Obviously, most of the budget went to the ending. Here, Jeans gives a bit of the explosive Michael Bay, a little bit of the disaster-loving Roland Emmerich, and this is where he ends his suffering opus. What do we take away from it? Don’t trust lying populists, take care of Mother Nature, and most importantly, avoid low-grade cinema like the plague.