FACTEUR HUMAIN (Human Factor)

Damien Morel / France / 21 minutes

Synopsis

Harold is a thirty-something guitarist completely lacking inspiration. One morning, he discovers in his mailbox 10,000€ in bills. With the caretaker (an overexcited and endearing hypochondriac), he’ll uncover the secret hidden in the very heart of their building.

As we have no idea how to begin this review, let’s just structure it with a list of points… A factors list.

✉ Title Factor

Alright, this is unimportant and maybe a coincidence. But we wanna highlight the double meaning in French like in English. In the original title, the word factor of course means element, feature, while echoing the envelopes that the protagonist receives (“facteur” = postman). On the other hand, in its literal translation, factor can be taken with the same first common meaning, but also understood as agent/keeper. Clever.

✉ Technical Factors

It’s clean, but strangely quite prosaic. For example, the sound design is very simple, doesn’t really showcase any score (unusual for a comedy) other than the music played by the characters themselves.

On-screen, ditto. Classic frames. Discreet colour-grading, with a mostly light and realistic image, except one Act with particularly crushed blacks— a change that is not gratuitous since the story justifies it.

Mini drawback for a few editing moments, with here and there establishing shots that don’t seem to fit in the narration nor in the general mood (the first one almost made us twitch incredulously)— and also some fades-out that are not always timely.

One may see the start of a more positive discrepancy (perhaps) in the almost-clinical settings, as impersonal as disconcerting (flats and corridors here don’t really look like an actual place of residence).

Actually, the real zany dimension of the film belongs to the…

✉ ...Writing Factor

You’ll follow the story with great pleasure, for the established mystery just as much as for the concurrent emotional aspects. At first sight, a few stagings a little frozen (immobile character n°1 waits for character n°2 to finish his line before he steps in again) did not feel fully right to us; but this sensation totally disappeared from the second viewing. The director allows himself a couple of other eccentricities, contained in intensity and in number, and they strike home. The script per se efficiently portrays its characters in a manner as immediate as precise. Dialogues are hilarious and very well-played by...

✉ Acting Factor

...the cast. While a certain theatricality shows through, in this context it is completely appropriate, charming, and does not prevent a paradoxical authenticity from time to time.

Besides a few supporting characters showing up just for a brief scene, the film relies upon three main actors. On one hand Baptiste Belaïd and Steve Bedrossian (the storming duo the synopsis promises) who are adorable and at the same time a little crazy, separately and thanks to their apparent complicity too. On the other, Christian Cousseau in one (or more?) surprising role that of course we won’t reveal here. In short, everyone is very cool; what more could you ask?

Conclusion

Funny, lovely and fresh: one of our favourites this year.

G.W.

« Facteur Humain » joins official selection for the Little Croco Festival’s third edition, nominated in the Comedy category.