For a book that not many people know about or have read, James George Frazer’s The Golden Bough (1890) has had quite an impact on cult cinema, particularly in the ’70s. For reasons that would take too long to go into here — and thanks to its influence on Joseph Campbell’s 1949 book The Hero with a Thousand Faces — it turns out that Frazer’s non-fiction investigation of religion, mythology, folk tales and the subsequent journey to science has since shaped films as seemingly far afield as The Wicker Man, the very first Star Wars, and Apocalypse Now. Well, you wouldn’t necessarily ever put those three films on a triple bill, but, once you see it, there is a certain overlap, mostly in the concept of the unwitting hero, a man chosen by fate, and not necessarily for the better.
With that in mind, Greek-French director Romain Gavras’s Sacrifice, his English-language debut, comes at a very interesting time in the world’s history. Though outwardly a blunt comedy (of sorts), it’s a film that, through its central character, asks questions about seeking out actual heroism within the fog of tokenism.
That character is Mike Tyler (Chris Evans), a Hollywood star recovering from a recent nervous breakdown and attending a garish eco-friendly charity party for the super-super-rich that’s being held in a fantastically austere Greek mine. Tyler, conflicted even about his own attendance, is sceptical about everyone else’s motives and says so, calling out the event’s star guest, environmental billionaire Ben Bracken (Vincent Cassel), on a live video stream for his hypocritical politics, condemning the mining of fossil fuels yet happy to exploit the sea for energy.
To backtrack, Gavras’ film is an odd fish in that respect, because, despite the comedic veneer, its agenda is actually very real, and that’s how it starts. Before we meet Tyler, we see Joan (Anya Taylor-Joy) overseeing the fiery funeral of her own mother (who, worryingly, might not actually be dead yet). Joan is the leader of what looks like a teenage militia from The Village of the Damned (1960 or 1995, take your pick), and she’s on a mission. “The old way must burn to ash,” she says, under orders from a nearby volcano. Which is what guides her, and her two siblings, to storm the event and take its guests hostage — while Tyler is in the bathroom, licking his wounds after his mic drop moment goes horribly viral.
The gala itself is a cringeworthy as you might expect, the imminent climate catastrophe spelled out to the private jet-ferried audience through — what else? — the medium of an interpretative dance battle and a neon sign saying “MAKE EARTH COOL AGAIN”. In fact, it’s so cheesy that it takes a while for the guests to realize that Joan and her army aren’t part of the entertainment too; it’s only when the blood starts to flow that they realize she’s serious. At which point Tyler re-enters the room and is given up by the terrified crowd (and, more importantly, anointed by Joan) as one of three people — including Bracken and one of the show’s dancers — who must make the film’s titular sacrifice to save the world from an imminent catastrophe.
As a hostage, Tyler gets Stockholm Syndrome early on, taking all this to be student hijinks (“No justice, no peace,” he roars to the media), much to the annoyance of Bracken, who accuses him of promoting what he calls “Green Isis”. The ratio of laughs to drama changes quite sharply, however, as Joan takes her hostages off on their journey, leading to a bond with Tyler and a lot of unexpected revelations about Joan’s background.
You might think you know where all this is going, and the script does cover a lot of those bases, most of them involving movie stars’ egos and their power and privilege in the real world. But Sacrifice is interesting, not just because it takes risks even within its own sui generis genre (note to self: is sci-fi folk horror a thing yet?) but because it’s actually quite clear in its thinking: What constitutes is a sacrifice in today’s world?
As Tyler, Evans holds the film surprisingly well, given the twists and turns (in story as well as tone) that await him, and the poker-faced Taylor-Joy, never more serious (and quite convincingly playing way younger than she actually is), is a great foil to that. To make things even more entertaining, John Malkovich pops up as what seems, briefly, to be the voice of reason.
In short, it’s nuts, and not for everyone. But Sacrifice does have a message, and it’s about the ouroboros — the perpetual self-eating snake — that is the world’s performative reaction to climate change. It goes further than where you might not think it will, and the emotional payoff from that may well outlast the jokes.
Title: Sacrifice
Festival: Toronto (Special Presentations)
Director: Romain Gavras
Screenwriter: Will Arbery, Romain Gavras
Cast: Chris Evans, Anya Taylor-Joy, Vincent Cassel, Salma Hayek Pinault, John Malkovich, Ambika Mod, Charli xcx, and Jonatan “Yung Lean” Leandoer
Sales agent: Rocket Science
Running time: 1 hr 43 mins
