Created by Simon Bouisson, Olivier Demangel
Runtime: 70 minutes
Showing at Tribeca

by Gary Kramer, Staff Writer

République, directed by Simon Bouisson, and written by Olivier Demangel, is one of the Immersive offerings at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival. This 40-minute film is actually three stories that unfold simultaneously. While it claims to be interactive, what that means is that viewers can shift between the three narratives. It’s not quite “choose your own adventure”—viewers cannot direct the characters to open a door (or not)—rather, it is more like switching channels to follow the most interesting storyline.

The plot centers around a fictional terrorist attack in the République Metro station in Paris. The three narratives are multilayered. Two teenagers, Lucie (Lyna Khoudri) and Rio (Rio Vega), are exploring the underground tunnels; two lawyers, Antoine (Jean-Baptiste Lafarge) and Bori (Nicolas Avinée), are waiting on the subway platform for a train; and on the street, Rudy (Xavier Lacaille), a journalist, follows Nora (Noémie Merlant), a woman worried that her husband has been injured in the attack. As the storylines progress, some of the characters connect, before the drama converges (and the opportunity to swipe back and forth between the stories is eliminated).

République is viewed on a phone or a tablet and through an app. I watched on my phone and for whatever reason, there was no sound. While I could follow the action (because there were subtitles), I did not hear the terrorist shooting or other noises, which might have increased the tension of the situation. Much of the filming is shot in extreme closeups and with a handheld camera, which can be dizzying during some of the more intense sequences of the characters running through the streets, station, and underground tunnels.

I didn’t spend much time with Lucie and Rio because as soon as I saw the word “rats” I knew I wanted to be above ground. The Antoine and Boris storyline was the most interesting to me. The men meet a woman on the platform right before the attack happens and as they run towards safety, they meet Djibril (Radouan Leflahi) who is injured and lying in a hallway. While they help carry Djibril to safety, once secured in a room, a moral discussion takes place between the lawyers. Boris insists on saving Djibril, while Antoine is hoping to find a safe way out of the Metro. There is some real compelling drama in these scenes, but the small talk when Boris asks Djibril if he has a girlfriend was less interesting.

So, I swiped onto the street scene, which recounted Rudy and Nora’s story. This held some interest as they encounter an injured woman and try to get a sense of what is going on with the attack. The action involves scenes of running through the streets and into a store or a bar, but most of the time the characters were searching for answers.

Viewers may have a similar experience because swiping between the panels can cause key moments to be lost. The app does allow to go back or forward in the action but using that function a few times to try to catch something that I missed seemed futile. I got a little lost when Antoine and Lucie met up (I checked in on the teens from time to time, but not often) and I’m still not sure what happened to one of the characters. But that is a feature, not a bug; République is designed for multiple viewings, or for narrative gaps based on its interactive design.

Overall, the production quality of the film was high, even if scenes pixelated at times—that seemed to be more of the filmmakers mimicking the live streaming each set of characters was doing. The acting was good, with Noémie Merlant and Radouan Leflahi, standouts in the cast.

I may give République another look now that I’ve seen it once to try it again from a different perspective. The toggling back and forth between the stories was a nifty approach to creating my own movie. It was decidedly more interesting that just watching each individual story unfold separately. But I’m still staying away from the rats.