12/11/2014 - Fabrice du Welz is back with Alleluia, the blood-splattered ballad of Lola Dueñas and Laurent Lucas, loosely based on that of the Honeymoon Killers

Lola Dueñas and Laurent Lucas in Alleluia by Fabrice du Welz

Today sees the Belgian release of Alleluia [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
interview: Fabrice Du Welz
film profile] (Directors’ Fortnight, winner of the Méliès d’Or 2014), the latest little cinematic delight by Fabrice du Welz. It was undoubtedly a delight for the director, as he really seems to relish entangling his deadly couple in a bloody ballad in the heart of the Ardennes. It is bloody in terms of the gushing haemoglobin, obviously, but also bloody on a romantic level, with the affectionate husband and wife not hesitating to take advantage of their unfortunate, wealthy victims’ romantic (and carnal!) weaknesses. It is a delight for the audience to boot, particularly when we meet the admittedly seriously unsettling Laurent Lucas; yet he is nonetheless not quite as disturbing as Lola Dueñas, who spares no effort in making the expression “madly in love” seem a great deal more literal. It is also a delight elicited by the immaculate cinematography that has a distinct whiff of Celluloid about it, by the very special attention paid to the production design and to the costumes, and by a musical interlude that leaves the viewer with one sole memory that makes them tremble with dread as well as emotion. 

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Lastly, it is a little delight in terms of production, as the film also marks the reunion with Vincent Tavier (of Panique). Alleluia is the second instalment in a trilogy set in the Ardennes (which kicked off with The Ordeal [+see also:
trailer
interview: Fabrice du Welz
film profile]), which occupies a very special place in du Welz’s career, kind of like a breather in between other, more complex projects. Indeed, between the first two opuses, du Welz directed Vinyan [+see also:
trailer
film profile], an eerie and frenzied adventure in the Thai jungle, filmed in English and starring Emmanuelle Béart and Rufus Sewell, followed by Colt 45 [+see also:
trailer
film profile], a crime film this time shot in France, starring Gérard Lanvin and Joey Starr; the latter movie was essentially a film in which du Welz’s only involvement was as director, and it hit screens towards the end of the summer. He is again preparing to put his trilogy on hold, as he should soon be getting started with the shoot for Message from the King in the USA, produced by The Ink Factory and toplined by Chadwick Boseman (who appeared in the James Brown biopic, Get on up, and is set to play the Black Panther, the first black superhero brought to the big screen by Marvel). 

Alleluia is distributed in Belgium by O’Brother. 

(Translated from French)