‘Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person’ Review – Stand By Your (Hu)Man [TIFF 2023]

Leave it to Canada to add another fresh element to the movie monster genre. Similar to John Fawcett’s Ginger Snaps which took the aspect of puberty as a metaphor for turning into a werewolf, Quebecian writer-director, Ariane Louis-Seize brings humanism to the vampire world.

Sasha (Sara Montpetit) is a young vampire with a problem. Instead of being triggered by hunger when she sees a wounded human, she is triggered by compassion. Her fangs won’t come out and she can’t eat. While this is disturbing to her parents, cousin, and grandmother, Sasha is perfectly fine to live a life of non-violence, and drink from blood baggies.

When an encounter with a young, depressed man named Paul (Félix-Antoine Bénard) finally draws her fangs out, her family pushes her out to become a “real” vampire. Louis-Seize could’ve easily gone the “coming-of-fangs” route with this film, eventually coming to a point where Sasha embraces her nature and commits to vampirism the traditional way, but she doesn’t. She goes full tilt into this framing asking what would life be like for a vampire that doesn’t want to kill?

It’s a fascinating concept that she builds a solid foundation on top of. Then, there’s the aspect of the consenting suicidal person, which is where we meet Paul. He’s deeply sensitive, wholly awkward, and has no will to live. Sadly, the way Paul’s depression is shown looks more like teenage angst. While he definitely could be suicidal, it doesn’t appear that it stems from anything other than being picked on at school, and not being popular enough. While those can cause depression, Paul’s leap towards suicide is less convincing. There are even several moments where he fights for his life. It also comes down to how Paul is played. Félix-Antoine plays him rather stiffly. He moves about robotically, as if he’s still learning how to be a human, and he stays with one wide-eyed expression through the entirety of the film. It reads more like a tacit understanding of what a depressed, suicidal person might be like, rather than being one.

Thankfully, Montpetit is a seasoned actress, and commands Sasha with depth and clarity. She isn’t just “going through a phase”, she is a humanist. She has a core principle, and nothing will shake her from that stance. Whether it’s her steely eyed determination or her soft contempt for what she is, Montpetit owns this character as if she’s lived it. With an understanding of how uncomfortable Sasha must be in both exposing her identity to someone and then sharing her objections to it. It’s why in the final scene, Sasha is her most comfortable. She’s relaxed and settled into what she is and what she does. It makes for a compelling and satisfying arc. 

It also helps that she’s not alone. Steven Laplante and Sophie Cadieux play Sasha’s parents and Noémie O’Farrell plays her cousin while Marie Brassard plays her grandmother. Each of them hamming it up in their own ways, leaning closely into the Addams Family trope without copying it completely. O’Farrell is the comedic and antagonistic folly to Sasha’s humanistic ways. The one drawback the film has is it could’ve leaned more heavily into the horror of its vampirism. It would’ve been nice to see O’Farrell go from sardonic charmer to vicious killer. No one gets a moment of true wild blood lust that transforms their character. Seeing that contrast against Sasha’s compassion would’ve been a nice touch to get audiences to sympathize more with her character. Instead, the blood flow is kept to a dismal low, the killings are off-camera or in wide shots. A missed opportunity for sure.

But the film has some gorgeous upsides, but none more impressive than Shawn Pavlin’s cinematography. Pavlin’s use of minimal lighting in a lot of scenes keeps you in the scenes as it bends between Sasha’s nature and the nature of vampires. There’s one particular scene when Sasha and Paul are listening to a vinyl of Brenda Lee’s song, “Emotions”, and the background continuously shifts from light gold to dark red. The scene plays to the emotions the characters are going through and the budding relationship they are having, but also the internal struggle Sasha is battling as well. 

This film takes a new approach to the movie monster genre and brings a fresh perspective that will have audiences clamoring for more. Sara Montpetit solidifies herself as a star performer and Ariane Louis-Seize as an impressive and daring new voice in cinema.

Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person held its North American Premiere as part of the Centrepiece section at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival. 

Director: Ariane Louis-Seize

Writers: Ariane Louis-Seize, Christine Doyon

Rated: NR

Runtime: 90m