Imagine if “The Island of Doctor Moreau” was led by a group of pale, stoic women experimenting on pre-teen boys, and you’d get Lucile Hadzihalilovic’s “Evolution.” And this new trailer proves Hadzihalilovic’s version of the story to be much more creepy than the campy 1996 version. Indeed, the film is only influenced by H.G. Wells’ novel, not a direct adaptation, but the eeriness is evident.
From IFC Midnight, “Evolution,” follows “ten-year old Nicolas, [who] lives an austere and isolated life with his mother in a remote seaside community populated by women and other little boys about his age, but seemingly devoid of adult males. In a hospital overlooking the tempestuous ocean, the boys are all subjected to regular medical treatments — or, perhaps, some mysterious experiment. Only Nicolas seems to question what’s happening to him and his friends. He finds an unexpected ally in a young nurse, Stella, whose kindness is a break from the severity that all the other women seem to reserve for their young charges. Increasingly suspicious that his mother and the nurses are lying to him and that something ominous is going on, he follows the women at night, determined to find out what they are up to. What he discovers on the beach signals the beginning of a nightmare from which he’s helpless to escape.”
“Evolution” held its world premiere at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival and also played at Fantastic Fest, BFI London Film Festival, the San Sebastian International Film Festival where it won the Special Jury Prize as well as Best Cinematography, and at the Dublin International Festival where it won Best Director.
Back during TIFF 2015 in an interview with Women and Hollywood, Hadzihalilovic said that in making “Evolution,” she “wanted to juxtapose and explore two worlds that fascinate [her]: the depths of the ocean and the hospital, a place where the body can be subjected to all manner of strange procedures.”
“Evolution” will open on November 25 at the IFC Center and Film Society of Lincoln Center in New York, and on VOD. Check out the creepy trailer below.
