DEATH DOES NOT EXIST Review – Fantasia International Film Festival 2025

Starkly beautiful and challenging, Félix Dufour-Laperrière’s philosophical odyssey “Death Does Not Exist” is the perfect note to end the Fantasia run this year.

Synopsis

Young activists attempt an armed attack that fails, leading one to abandon her comrades. A former member haunts her, exploring violence, beliefs, friendship, love against societal crises.

Review
Violent revolution and transcendent character development painted in 2D animation is a feat not many filmmakers can pull off. In his Canadian-French film “Death Does Not Exist” (French title – La mort n’existe pas), writer-director Félix Dufour-Laperrière puts every detail, from the landscape to the character trace, on the page and paints a surreal, beautiful and unsettling story about resurrection and redemption. “No one can say we just stood by. No one can say we didn’t try” – a line one character says to another in relation to the tense stakes at hand. The film begins with a group of young activists preparing to take up arms against an affluent family in the name of rebellion and revolution. Before long, the planned attack unfolds in a starkly violent (but again, beautiful) sequence that leaves Hélène, the lone survivor, fleeing into the wilderness where she is haunted by Manon, one of the former members of the group. As she tries to evade the henchmen from the affluent home, Hélène is confronted with regret, consequences, alternate realities and possibly, redemption. Dufour-Laperrière’s film is no doubt a challenging 72 minutes that follows our protagonist through fear and enlightenment but it is also an awe-inspiring piece of art.

Breaking down this film’s lean story may not be as worthy of a discussion as its character development and weighty themes are what carries the film’s starkly gorgeous animation. The visual metaphors Dufour-Laperrière paints along Hélène’s journey are as unforgettable as its painting-in-motion cinematography. In the violent ambush sequence alone, Dufour-Laperrière keeps things tense as he zooms on both the activists and their targets, golden blood flying as each party shoots deadly bullets at the other. As doom closes in and our protagonist finds herself on the run, more powerful visual metaphors are seen including a sheep being town apart by bloodthirsty coyotes, a reflection of the dire situation our protagonist finds herself in. “You have a second chance”, Manon warns Hélène as she takes her down a journey of possibly starting over, exploring her love with a former activist member and examining just why she is carrying on with this rebellion. That’s not to say that this film is exactly “It’s a Wonderful Life” with its resolution – the situation is still dark and bleak but there’s hope. Through each revelation his protagonist encounters, Dufour-Laperrière never leaves the story without hope. While violence may beget violence, purpose overcomes all in this surreal journey.

Félix Dufour-Laperrière’s animated philosophical odyssey of regret and redemption is not for the passive nor the weak. While it may stun and entrance audiences with its beautiful hand-drawn style, it may alienate some that are not willing to dig into its philosophical ideas. The terrific stark animation does not exist to be a distracting opposite to its surreal story nor is it meant to be a pump-fake of such, luring people into this story of rebellion and resurrection. The film’s animation highlights its themes rather than take away from it, it illuminates its character journey rather than run the risk of oversimplifying it. As it builds to its tense conclusion, “Death Does Not Exist” does not paint easy answers but it also doesn’t shy away from consequences. The conclusion is as illuminating and complex as its themes and it leaves a lot for the viewer to ponder as the credits roll.

Closing Thoughts
This is one of the films I anticipated the most as I observed and took note of what was coming to Fantasia this year. The stark, painting canvas-like animation was enough to pique my interest and it did not disappoint. While I’m still processing some of the film’s more challenging moments, I can honestly say it is a film I will not soon forget. I’m interested to see if this film will have the same amount of hype as last year’s “Flow” but my gut tells me (due to its challenging themes and the film’s resistance to categorization) that it may not carry the same wave. Regardless if it does or not, the film is still worth a viewing and much consideration.

Trailer