La mort viendra

Charles Mahr (Louis-Do de Lencquesaing), an old-school gangster boss, has long ruled unchallenged in Brussels’ underworld. But times have changed, and he now finds himself at the center of a power struggle over the future of the trade—a future his rival envisions in cyber brothels featuring VR headsets and sex dolls. When a money-smuggling operation disguised as an art shipment goes wrong and his courier is murdered, Mahr hires cold-blooded hitwoman Tez (Sophie Verbeeck) to carry out revenge. She finds herself caught in a labyrinth of intrigue and lies, leading to a spectacular showdown. The men are finished; the women cooperate and pull the strings from behind the scenes. Hochhäusler’s first French-language film is a film noir in the tradition of Jean-Pierre Melville—cool and gloomy, with brief bursts of violence. But Reinhold Vorschneider’s magnificent cinematography of urban Brussels and a stunning flirtation scene between Tez and a bartender with a gap in her teeth also leave a lasting impression. (bik)