''Zombi Child'' is a 2019 French

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by

Bertrand Bonello Bertrand Bonello (; born 11 September 1968) is a French film director, screenwriter, producer, composer and actor. His work has been associated with the New French Extremity. He wrote and directed ''Something Organic'' (1998), '' The Pornographe ...

. It is based on the account of the life of a supposed

zombified "Zombified" is a song by American rock band Falling in Reverse. It was released on January 5, 2022, through Epitaph Records. It was released as a standalone single and was later included on their fifth studio album '' Popular Monster''. The song ...

man in

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

, Clairvius Narcisse. It was screened in the

Directors' Fortnight The Directors' Fortnight (, formerly ) is an independent section held in parallel to the Cannes Film Festival. It was started in 1969 by the French Directors Guild after the events of May 1968 resulted in cancellation of the Cannes festival as a ...

section at the

2019 Cannes Film Festival The 72nd annual Cannes Film Festival took place from 14 to 25 May 2019. Mexican filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu served as jury president for the main competition. South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho won the , the festival's top prize, fo ...

Plot

In 1962, a Haitian man is buried by his family and his brother that caused his death by voodoo, only to be brought back as an undead zombi slave. Fifty-five years later, a teenage girl Fanny makes friends with Mélissa, who moved from Haiti to France after the

2010 Haiti earthquake The 2010 Haiti earthquake was a catastrophic Moment magnitude scale, magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake that struck Haiti at 16:53 local time (21:53 UTC) on Tuesday, 12 January 2010. The epicenter was near the town of Léogâne, Ouest (departm ...

. After it is revealed that Mélissa's family is associated with voodoo culture, Fanny convinces Mélissa's aunt Katy (a

mambo Mambo most often refers to: *Mambo (music), a Cuban musical form *Mambo (dance), a dance corresponding to mambo music Mambo may also refer to: Music * Mambo section, a section in arrangements of some types of Afro-Caribbean music, particul ...

) to perform a ritual in order to cure Fanny's heartbreak over a recent breakup. The ritual goes awry, however, leaving Fanny possessed by

Baron Samedi Baron Samedi (), also written Baron Samdi, Bawon Samedi or Bawon Sanmdi, is one of the lwa of Haitian Vodou. He is a lwa of the dead, along with Baron's numerous other incarnations Baron Cimetière, Baron La Croix and Baron Criminel. He i ...

himself.

Cast

Release

The film had its world premiere in the

section at the

on 17 May 2019. It was released in France on 12 June 2019.

Reception

Critical response

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website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the film has an approval rating of based on reviews, and an average rating of . The website's critical consensus reads, "If the strain of its ambitious juggling act sometimes shows, ''Zombi Child'' remains an entertainingly audacious experience, enlivened with thought-provoking themes." On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which assigns a normalized rating, the film has a score 74 out of 100, based on 13 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zombi Child 2019 films 2019 drama films 2010s French-language films 2010s fantasy drama films French fantasy drama films Films directed by Bertrand Bonello Films with screenplays by Bertrand Bonello Films about Voodoo 2010s French films Ad Vitam (company) films