Who by Fire

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Who by Fire

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2h 35m

Drama

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84%

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19 Reviews

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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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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

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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

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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

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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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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

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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

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Philippe Lesage

Director

Noah Parker

Jeff

Arieh Worthalter

Blake

Aurélia Arandi-Longpré

Aliocha

Paul Ahmarani

Albert

Antoine Marchand-Gagnon

Max

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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