Locarno review: Les Dieux (2025)

Pardi di Domani
National Competition

A man with two heads. They spring from his chest, opposite each other, as if to embody their difference or disagreement. Despite this distance, they are one: their faces are similar, sharing the same root. This chimaera, created by superimposing two shots, encapsulates Anas Sareen’s endeavour for his ambitious black-and-white short film, Les dieux. Presented at Locarno in the national competition of the Pardi di Domani selection, the film explores the bond between two young brothers who have grown apart following the death of their father.

How do you grieve? While this question is at the heart of Les dieux, it does not offer an answer. Adel (Abdeslam Jadrani) and Moïse (Sofiane El Bouhassani) themselves cannot agree on the matter. One wears his father’s clothes and cologne; the other prefers to reject these mementoes and discard them in a large dumpster. There is no shared grief between them, but two separate sufferings that cannot seem to be reconciled. The shots, fixed, empty, taken with cold detachment, emphasise this idea: Adel and Moïse never really share the same space.

Although presented in this way, and Les dieux seems crystal clear, the film rather cultivates confusion. A black sun in the middle of the afternoon, overlapping shades of white, superimpositions of sunlight, water and foliage, as well as unnatural postures, give the film a mysterious look, somewhere between fog and visual sharpness. Whereas cinematographer Silvio Gerber gives the film a very distinct, powerful aesthetic, Les dieux ultimately seems trapped halfway between two propositions. On the one hand, there are striking visual ideas that defy pure logic; on the other, there are overly flat and explanatory conversations that clash with the rest. The film’s secret is undermined by the dialogue, as if director Anas Sareen wanted to impose a more readable meaning on his film, fearing that the viewer would not make the effort. And yet, we were ready for the journey.

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Year: 2025
Runtime: 15’06’’
Country: Switzerland
Language: Français, Arabe
Directed by: Anas Sareen
Written by: Anas Sareen
Cast: Abdeslam Jadrani, Sofiane El Bouhassani, Amin Sabir
Cinematography by: Silvio Gerber
Editing by: Gianni Forteleoni
Sound by: Camille Bonard
Sound Mixing: Adrien Kessler
Production design by: Marion Reymond
Costume design by: Mossane Diene
Produced by: Julien Bono, Gaspard Vignon
Production company: Marmotte Productions
Distributed by: Solal Films