As the movie opens Simone, a professional model, is driving at night on a deserted highway near Montreal. She falls asleep at the wheel and drifts out of the highway at speed. In the next scene the following morning, we see her car overturned. She is apparently unscathed, trapped in the car and fighting to get out, which she does promptly. She returns to the highway for help and is picked up by a Good Samaritan, who drives her to hospital for tests. She asks for the date, and he answers emphatically August 32. That is a clue that what we are watching is not reality. This feeling intensifies with some somewhat absurd happenings, like: Simone wants his best friend and ex-boyfriend Philippe to conceive a child with her, snd he accepts only on condition that the deed be done in the middle of a desert. This is then attempted by flying to Salk Lake City and taking a taxi to the Bonneville Salt Flats. The driver, waiting for fares at the airport is reading the book "How to Develop Friendship with Extraterrestrials".
There may be various ways to interpret the happenings. Perhaps the inexistent August 32 is a symbol that Simone has decided to remake her life from the ground up. Perhaps, and more probable, it means that all is a dream that she dreams in comma in hospital. Perhaps it is a dream that she dreams at the instant of death; the last interpretation has been taken up by other films like Yella (2007) by Cristian Petzold. Be it as it may, Denis Villeneuve's feature film debut is a masterpiece where dots are left for the viewer to connect. Besides an excellent script and direction, the movie is supported by first rate acting (especially from Pascale Bussières) and cinematography by André Turpin.that does justice to city landscapes and to the stark beauty of the salt flats.
There may be various ways to interpret the happenings. Perhaps the inexistent August 32 is a symbol that Simone has decided to remake her life from the ground up. Perhaps, and more probable, it means that all is a dream that she dreams in comma in hospital. Perhaps it is a dream that she dreams at the instant of death; the last interpretation has been taken up by other films like Yella (2007) by Cristian Petzold. Be it as it may, Denis Villeneuve's feature film debut is a masterpiece where dots are left for the viewer to connect. Besides an excellent script and direction, the movie is supported by first rate acting (especially from Pascale Bussières) and cinematography by André Turpin.that does justice to city landscapes and to the stark beauty of the salt flats.