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Who by Fire

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84% Tomatometer 19 Reviews Popcornmeter 0 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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Critics Reviews

View All (19) Critics Reviews
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 Manohla Dargis New York Times Lesage’s characters may talk a lot, but because he avoids exposition, he ends up overloading the story with dramatically heightened episodes. Mar 13, 2025 Full Review Ryan Swen Slant Magazine One of Who by Fire’s greatest assets is Philippe Lesage’s willingness to shift the tenor of the film to fit the wildly divergent narrative concerns of any given sequence. Rated: 3/4 Oct 8, 2024 Full Review 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 Full Review Paul Emmanuel Enicola The Movie Buff Employing a slow-burn approach in his study, Lesage helms a film that watches, lingers, and allows its disquiet to build so gradually. Rated: B+ Mar 10, 2025 Full Review Avi Offer NYC Movie Guru An underwhelming psychological thriller that suffers from a meandering plot, lethargy and not nearly enough palpable dramatic tension. Mar 10, 2025 Full Review Read all reviews
Who by Fire

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Movie Info

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