– By Cate Marquis –
THE 9TH LIFE OF LOUIS DRAX strives for mystery but is just a confusing mess
The fantasy drama THE 9TH LIFE OF LOUIS DRAX is a mystery about an accident-prone young boy, Louis Drax (Aiden Longworth) who has survived a series of near-fatal accidents, eight of them. The last incident, which happens during a seaside picnic to celebrate Louis’ birthday, is a fall from a cliff into the ocean and a near-drowning that leaves him in a coma. Mysteries abound and the police are investigating, as his father Peter Drax (Aaron Paul) has gone missing and his mother Natalie (Sarah Gadon) says the father is at fault for the accident. As the boy lies in a coma in a San Francisco health facility, renowned neurologist Dr. Allan Pascal (Jamie Dornan) tries to piece together what happened, with the help of the troubled boy’s psychologist, Dr. Perez (Oliver Platt) and the mother.
THE 9TH LIFE OF LOUIS DRAX is based on a bestselling novel of the same name and is directed by Alexandre Aja (THE HILLS HAVE EYES) from a script by Max Minghella and Liz Jensen. Director of Photography is Maxime Alexandre, who worked with the director on THE HILLS HAVE EYES. The film features a lot of very pretty computer-generated, animated, and animatronic fantasy sequences and an equally pretty cast. The story is narrated, in part, by the boy’s mother and by Louis himself, with dream-like imagery that might be Louis’ imaginings as he drifts in his coma, or perhaps just flashback memories of events before the near-drowning. We are never completely clear on which is real and which is imagined. Often the point-of-view is Louis’ but clearly not always. The images are often beautiful, but their meaning isn’t always clear.
This messy confusion of a film wants to be mystical and dreamlike, but strives so hard for that effect that it loses all credibility with the audience. We are never sure what is real – the story appears to be told from the viewpoint of a young boy in a coma but does not consistently keep that focus. Sometimes people behave in rational ways but other times they have the kind of lack of logic one finds in dreams. Even the most reasonable, straight-forward scenes are filmed in a kind of hazy, soft-focus that suggests dream-states or imagination. As a result, we are never sure what to believe.
The result is a very pretty film but one that is hard to accept or believe on any level. Nothing in this film is very believable. Comatose young Louis revives after being thought dead but once it is seems he is in a persistent vegetative state, he is transferred from the hospital, not to a nursing home but to a special luxury facility that looks more like spa than a hospital, with no real explanation. Louis’ doctor becomes deeply involved with his case, and then with his beautiful mother, which seems to violate all kinds of ethics.
Inexplicably, Sarah Gadon, as Louis’ beautiful mother, seems to be wearing to same lovely late ’40s costumes she wore in her previous period film INDIGNATION, complete with bright red lipstick. The police investigating the event, and hunting for the missing father, drift in and out of this mystery, sometimes doing rather mysterious things themselves.
Everything at the hospital is shot in a kind of half-light, the remembered incidents from Louis’ childhood are shot in vivid bright colors, and dream/fantasy scenes sometimes take place in the same locations – the hospital, the seaside – where real events occurred, just to keep everyone confused. Although the family seems to have modest means, they live in a nostalgic-twinged charming cottage near pricey San Francisco.
The surprisingly good cast seem as confused about this mess as anyone and struggle mightily to deliver serious dramatic performances, but in the end, their efforts are not enough to save this film.
The greater mystery is what is going on in this loopy, pretty movie and why the audience should care. The story finally does solve some mysteries, tying a few questions up in a nice medical bow, but leaves plenty of resolved questions, mainly why anyone would pay to see this pretty, dreamy mess.
© Cate Marquis
