Afterwards, based on the novel by Guillaume Musso - Seven out of 10

Afterwards, based on the novel by Guillaume Musso

Seven out of 10

If you love Romain Duris and John Malkovich, as the under signed does, then you will probably be tolerant of the shortcomings of this motion picture that was rejected by critics.

The audiences have not been more generous, since the rating on IMDB stands at 5.9 on a scale from one to ten, and this is somewhat surprising given that four in ten Americans believe in psychics.

In other lands, that percentage is surely higher.

The iconic, legendary John Malkovich plays Doctor Kay – though not so god like when he takes on roles in films like RED and then decides to participate in the sequel as well.

He is not a psychic per se, for he does not talk to the dead and does not propose the usual phantasmagoria, has limits in what concerns the future and insists that we do not know how we die.

However, he does know who is going to die!

Obviously, this is a premise that would antagonize many, if not most viewers, including this one, who, upon seeing that the main theme has a rather preposterous idea at the core did not engage with the film.

On the other hand, who knows…maybe we will have the chance to see a white halo and then become aware that this is associated with someone who will die soon and needs assistance.

There is nothing that Doctor Kay can do for the dying, except be there and help them somehow in the final moments of their death, which is pre-established as he insists in the film:

There is nothing one can do about the hour of death!

Romain Duris, one of the best actors in the world, plays Nathan, a successful lawyer that meets with Doctor Kay and dismisses the preposterous claims that the other makes.

He is shaken though when he sees in the subway a man that the doctor has pointed out to him and predicted that he will die very soon use a gun to blow his brains out in front of him.

When the lawyer sees that there might be some truth in what the apparently strange Kay says, he is worried about Anna, a woman that he thinks might be in danger and thus he tries to protect.

In one instance, when he inadvertently arrives at a party, he tries to prevent her from working with the fuses for the lights that have just went off, only to have her father die in her place.

The wrong conclusion drawn here is that the doctor is so wrong and Anna is surely in no danger, but something happens quite soon, as a mad shooter starts firing his gun and then kills her.

Trembling, Nathan can now see that Doctor Kay is a Chosen man somehow and the two travel to see Claire and their daughter, with another episode of clairvoyance at the airport.

The doctor – and with him the audience – can see that one man has a halo, a bright white light that emanates from him and in some later scene we can see him dead on the side of the road.

At some stage, Nathan himself gains this power, like in other films, where one does not become an X – Man right from the start – or does he…for one who is not looking for this genre, it is hard to tell.

One important, attractive, captivating side of this bizarre film is the serenity that dominates the scenes in the later chapters.

That was blissful and gave an impulse for carpe diem.

Otherwise, it is not the best opportunity that either John Malkovich or Romain Duris have had to shine.