Amalgame is directed by writer, director and producer, Charline Odiot. The film has won several awards including a Gold Remi Award at the Houston International Film Festival in 2018 and a Platinum Award at the European Independent Film Award.
The context behind the film lies in the 2015 Paris terror attacks which occurred on the evening of Friday November 13th. Shootings and bomb blasts left 130 people dead and hundreds wounded, with more than 100 in a critical condition (BBC News). People all across France were left wondering about their safety. But to change how we live would be to let the terrorists win and therefore, in a display of solidarity, people try to live as normally as they can. This is explored early on in Amalgame as Marie tells her mother that she ‘isn’t going to stop living’ because of the attacks. Marie continues her life as normal.
However when such a large scale, brutal attack occurs so close to home, psychological tremors are felt by all. Marie catches a taxi but becomes hopelessly stuck in traffic and a rising sense of claustrophobia begins to snake round her feet. The cinematography throughout the film appears to be composed of very precisely placed shots. Inside the taxi, the camera flicks between the two same angles which increases a sense of suffocation. The driver continually checks his phone nervously and (as Marie later admits though an inner monologue) she becomes suspicious as he appears to be an Arab Muslim. The constant chatter on the radio describing the events of the terror attacks does little to help the situation. Eventually Marie decides she must escape the situation and asks the cab driver to pull over. He eventually does.
As she walks away from the scene, Marie questions herself sharply. It is somewhat unusual for a film to so openly explore the prejudices of a character in this way. Marie admits that she thought the man was a terrorist when he began to act a little strangely. She harshly criticises herself for thinking this but at the same time can’t shake the question ‘what if?’ Charline Odiot raises some very difficult questions in Amalgame and the film makes a good attempt at dealing with them appropriately.