Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: COMA [Berlinale 2022]

The essence of a film like "Coma" [Encounters] rests in its perceptions of self with its director versus its protagonist as well as the antagonist which may be one and the same thing at times. The movie begins and ends a little too esoterically but that perhaps is a result of the film itself being so short at 80 minutes. With those parts excised, even though they seem the most personal in nature, the film becomes an interesting dissertation of the notion of duality within the mind of a teenager (Louise Labeque). The movie engages in the ideas of social media influence in the idea of a disjointed but connected persona of Patricia Coma (Julia Faure). The ideas of loss and romance are reflected in the stories that Faure sees through dolls. The disjointed nature of characters and their motivations including elements of self harm versus fantasy becomes oddly symbiotic in a way. Ultimately the movie is about disconnection at its core. The interstitials of Coma are particularly hypnotic because she sells her ideas even though she is aware that no one might be watching at all. Director Bernard Bonnello has something clear he wants to say in a roundabout way mixing in animation and stop motion. While parts of it with the music has an intensity as well as a sadness, the realization is that the journey is everyone's own which is ironic in a way. "Coma" can refer to that in-between space where life is slightly unreal and time slows but mixing structures (while intriguing at some points) seem both muted and loud at the same time, screaming in its own way while still ending up in a certain way where it began. C+

By Tim Wassberg