Who by Fire

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Who by Fire

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2h 35m

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

83%

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23 Reviews

99%

Popcornmeter

100+ Ratings

A getaway at a secluded log cabin in the forest becomes the site of escalating, multigenerational tensions and anxieties in this disquieting, impeccably mounted coming-of-age drama from Quebecois filmmaker Philippe Lesage (Genesis, New Directors/New Films). Ostensibly a merry reunion between well-known film director Blake Cadieux (Arieh Worthalter, 2024 César winner for Best Actor for The Goldman Case) and his longtime friend and former collaborator Albert Gary (Paul Ahmarani), the vacation gradually becomes something far more complex and less stable, especially with the combustible admixture of Albert's teen son's best friend, Jeff (Noah Parker), and Albert's self-asserting daughter Aliocha (Aurélia Arandi-Longpré). Long-simmering middle-aged resentments surface, set against the anxieties of the young, all captured sensitively by Lesage, who in recent years has proven unparalleled in evoking the psychological contours of teenagers finding their paths through treacherous emotional landscapes. Featuring thrillingly choreographed dinner sequences of mounting tension, Who by Fire confirms Lesage as a major contemporary filmmaker, with its assured tonal negotiation of the naturalistic and the oneiric, the joyous (especially an epic dance interlude to The B-52s) and the ominous.

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Justin Chang

The New Yorker

Despite its constricted, isolated setting, the film feels more psychologically expansive than its predecessors.

Mar 20, 2025

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Bilge Ebiri

New York Magazine/Vulture

All of Who by Fire exists in this in-between space, which is what makes it so thrilling, so unpredictable. We keep waiting for something awful to happen. That something turns out to be life.

Mar 17, 2025

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Glenn Kenny

RogerEbert.com

Lesage supplies exemplary tension and intrigue over the course of two plus hours, while at the same time suggesting to the viewer, accurately, that anything in the way of a definitive resolution is not in the cards.

Rated: 3/4

Mar 14, 2025

Full Review

Michael Nordine

Movie Brief

There’s nothing we can do to prevent that flame from igniting, try as we might from our side of the screen, and the characters’ ultimate tragedy is that there’s nothing they can do either.

Rated: 3/4

Mar 20, 2025

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Ria Dhull

Spectrum Culture

Who by Fire excels on all fronts except editing. Director Philippe Lesage’s coming-of-age story is incredibly smart, but feels like a rough cut.

Mar 20, 2025

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Christopher Llewellyn Reed

Film Festival Today

Lesage demonstrates a keen eye for nuance and meditative mise-en-scène, even as he eventually leads us to some explosive and wrenching events, where tables are turned and expectations reversed.

Rated: 4/5

Mar 13, 2025

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Sulis T

Film nya bagus banget, sangat menarik

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

03/26/25

Full Review

Ronaldi F

Seru banget sih filmnya well

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/19/25

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Randi V

lethargy and not nearly enough palpable dramatic tension

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/19/25

Full Review

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Philippe Lesage

Director

Noah Parker

Jeff

Arieh Worthalter

Blake

Aurélia Arandi-Longpré

Aliocha

Paul Ahmarani

Albert

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Who by Fire: Trailer 1

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Synopsis

A getaway at a secluded log cabin in the forest becomes the site of escalating, multigenerational tensions and anxieties in this disquieting, impeccably mounted coming-of-age drama from Quebecois filmmaker Philippe Lesage (Genesis, New Directors/New Films). Ostensibly a merry reunion between well-known film director Blake Cadieux (Arieh Worthalter, 2024 César winner for Best Actor for The Goldman Case) and his longtime friend and former collaborator Albert Gary (Paul Ahmarani), the vacation gradually becomes something far more complex and less stable, especially with the combustible admixture of Albert's teen son's best friend, Jeff (Noah Parker), and Albert's self-asserting daughter Aliocha (Aurélia Arandi-Longpré). Long-simmering middle-aged resentments surface, set against the anxieties of the young, all captured sensitively by Lesage, who in recent years has proven unparalleled in evoking the psychological contours of teenagers finding their paths through treacherous emotional landscapes. Featuring thrillingly choreographed dinner sequences of mounting tension, Who by Fire confirms Lesage as a major contemporary filmmaker, with its assured tonal negotiation of the naturalistic and the oneiric, the joyous (especially an epic dance interlude to The B-52s) and the ominous.

Director: Philippe Lesage
Producer: Galilé Marion-Gauvin
Screenwriter: Philippe Lesage, Philippe Lesage
Distributor: KimStim
Production Co: L'Unité Centrale, Shellac Sud
Genre: Drama
Original Language: Canadian French
Release Date (Theaters): Mar 14, 2025, Limited
Runtime: 2h 35m