11/10/2024 - Élise Otzenberger’s sophomore feature, toplined by Cécile de France, is a visually sublime family drama-cum-mystery with a gentle splash of genre fantasy

l-r: Navid Zarrabian, Cécile de France and Darius Zarrabian in Call of Water

A siren’s call, a mysterious message from another world: perhaps nothing is more mystical or sublime than the allure of the unknown. It’s no wonder storytellers turn to deep space and the open ocean to place their characters in a completely defamiliarising environment, even if this estrangement is tailored to the bounds of a particular tale. In her sophomore feature, Call of Water [+see also:
trailer
interview: Élise Otzenberger, Cécile d…
film profile], French actress-turned-director Élise Otzenberger selects the eponymous element as her speculative novum to challenge an otherwise realistic world, where characters are seemingly able to hear the voices of aliens through this liquid medium. The film, which has just had its world premiere in the Sitges Film Festival’s Official Fantastic Competition, comes from an original idea by Otzenberger, and boasts a screenplay by Otzenberger, Maud Ameline and Mauricio Carrasco.

Having recently moved out of Paris, Sarah (Cécile de France) struggles in her marriage with her husband Antoine (Arthur Igual) while taking care of her two young sons, seven-year-old Louis and nine-year-old Simon (played by brothers Navid and Darius Zarrabian, respectively). After a fateful visit to the beach in the film’s stunning opening scene, Simon is inexplicably drawn to water, claiming he can hear the enchanting voices of extraterrestrials. Although initially sceptical, Sarah begins to encourage her son’s behaviour, which alienates her husband but leads her down her own path of exploring belief and the mystery of the world around her.

English titles of French-language films seem to dampen the conceptual beauty of their original titles in favour of literalism, which is also the case of Call of Water (its French title being Par Amour – lit. “For Love”). The filmmaker’s grounded visual language tells us that this is, first and foremost, a needlepoint-precise family drama about the connections between Sarah, her sons and her husband – and a mystery second, with its more fantastical elements as part of Otzenberger’s carefully cultivated magical realism. There’s also a powerful undercurrent of symbolism behind Sarah's job as a translator: she constantly alludes to taking the family to visit China, expressing her own yearning for another space – or world.

It’s a joy to see a film like this in the context of Sitges, where grounded fantasy is appreciated alongside more hardcore, in-your-face genre flicks. The crisp screenplay never drags, so it’s not an issue that Otzenberger leaves its central mystery hidden deep within a black box while revealing only thin threads. However, more dramatic risk-taking earlier in the film could have stretched the already solid concept to greater heights, as the unravelling of Sarah’s own psyche takes place mainly in the last third of the movie. Here, Otzenberger finally plays more freely with the mother’s embrace of her own metaphysical instincts, but to see our protagonist swept up in something much larger than familial strife is a delicious turn that never comes. As Sarah embraces the unknown, we disappointingly never get to witness her being stretched to her limits.

An element of the sublime threatens from all sides of the story and through every cinematic element. Hans Zimmer-like orchestral music by French indie artist ROB (Robin Coudert) – known for his original score for the French series The Bureau [+see also:
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interview: Coralie Fargeat
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Call of Water is a French production by Mamma Roman, with Playtime steering its world sales.