In classic film festival fashion, I went into Planet B knowing only that it was sci-fi of some kind, and that it starred Adèle Exarchopoulos (Blue Is The Warmest Color). This was a perfect level of awareness to enter into a clever, twisty, political sci-fi thriller that took me on an adventure with dire implications.
It is 2039 and France has become an oppressive fascist state. The skies are littered with surveillance drones and jack-booted thugs herd citizens around like cattle. “The R” is a group of resistance fighters doing what they can to fight for freedom in underground bunkers filled with hacked and grimy future tech that attempts to disrupt the state’s machine. When a mission goes south, Exarchopoulos’ field leader Julia Bombarth and several of her compatriots are captured, only to wake up in a mysterious virtual prison; a gorgeous waterfront villa that will nonetheless be a place of nightmares as the state tries to pry information out of them while their physical bodies are locked away somewhere unknown. Meanwhile, Souheila Yacoub’s Nour is an Iraqi immigrant scraping by as a janitor in a top level government facility that houses the tech which runs Planet B, the virtual prison. She’s just days away from her documents expiring and she’s desperate for any solution that won’t see her deported. Julia and Nour’s journeys will intersect in fascinating ways in this taut and gritty political sci-fi thriller.
I knew nothing about writer/director Aude Léa Rapin but our Fantastic Fest team introduced the film by letting us know that she got her start doing some pretty hard hitting journalism in places like Africa and the Middle East, so it seems immediately apparent that her massively ambitious and creative sci-fi thriller would actually take a highly naturalistic and gritty tone. Think more Children Of Men than Hunger Games. Planet B takes us to a dirty, street level future France where the sky is actually littered with drones almost like space junk and the promise of technology has devolved into QR code and retinal scanners at every door.
Rapin creates a visually rich world filled with stark contrast between the grimy hell of the future and the paradisiac ocean villa feel of the virtual prison. While it’s likely the budget was modest here, Planet B feels quite lush and fully visually developed. Perhaps most importantly, the urgency of the political messaging and the sacrifice required to actually affect any kind of change on society felt on point and relevant without ever feeling too on the nose. While Julia and her crew languish in their prison, experiencing confidence shattering nightmares that slowly begin to chip away at their resolve to not sell out their cause, the genuine cost of loyalty and resistance becomes clear. Different characters suffer and falter in varying ways and trust becomes almost impossible. But it is precisely trust that must be forged if there is to be any hope. When Nour finds a way into the virtual prison, tensions ratchet up, but a slim path to victory may also open up. It’ll be up to these two women with everything to lose to forge any chance at escape and revolution.
A cool sci-fi thriller told through a largely female lens (both behind and in front of the camera), Planet B has a lot to say without ever feeling even remotely like homework. Yacoub and Exarchopoulos are compelling leads for what amounts to a pretty weighty thriller that couldn’t feel more relevant today. And Rapin establishes herself as a voice that can deliver grounded thrills through compelling character work carried by determined female protagonists who put it all on the line for a chance at redemption.
And I’m Out.
