Released: 2020 (Netflix)
Length: 83 Minutes
Certificate: 15
Director: Patrice Laliberté
Starring: Guillaume Laurin, Marie-Évelyne Lessard, Réal Bossé and Marc-André Grondin
Productions that home in on survival can be rife with tension; with productions like The Revenant getting across man’s struggle against nature alongside gritty action. The low-budget Jusqu’an declin (Known as The Decline in English) makes an impact with its presentation, only to come up short in every other department.
Taking place in the chilly mountains of northern Quebec in Canada, The Decline follows a band of regular folk who take up the challenge of a survival course. Led by the survivalist Alain (Réal Bossé), the group appears to get into the exercises well. But after a freak accident, the guide’s behaviour takes a dark turn and participants are caught in a harrowing race for their lives. On face value, this strong approach for a thriller is straightforward; we never leave the camp once we’re there. However, the movie never goes beyond its premise to create a compelling thematic undercurrent. It’s a massive missed opportunity; placing the cast in an isolated setting and commenting on the possibility of societal breakdown only skims the surface; The Decline should have gone a step further by providing more motivation. The reasoning behind Alain’s erratic behaviour for example could have slowly come to light throughout the film, revealing his true colours and providing more twists to the story. Alternatively, the film could also have commented on man’s survival abilities, which would tie it in with our own turbulent times. Regretfully, The Decline misses the mark on both counts and its story feels weak overall.
The characters in the decline go for a realistic approach; their reactions to the situation may be conveyed in a well-told, often visceral manner, the overall depth and interaction is severely lacking. Aside from Rachel (Marie-Évelyne Lessard), who has some background military experience, there’s little to distinguish the survivalists in training. Their different dynamics aren’t played off each other in any major way; instead anything that could set the characters apart is put aside once the tension kicks in. By showing the different ways the team respond to Alain’s ulterior motives, we could have had a wide array of perspectives clashing together. Things are fairly sub-standard as a result; had we learned more about the characters and what brought them out to the remote wilderness, the sense of tension would have been heightened, not to mention the fatalities that do occur landing with more impact. Perhaps the film’s biggest issue is that it opens on one man, Antoine (Guillaume Laurin), with his family, but then refuses to properly develop a protagonist to follow. It feels like they’re doing the bare minimum here; the actors clearly needed more material to work with.
Standing at a contrast to these weaker elements, the rural Nord-du-Quebec is beautifully presented throughout the film; grand sweeping shots of the snowy mountains set the tone and the survival hut and its layout is well established from the get-go. The action is helmed with a strong eye and the lack of music enhances the more grounded tone; the violence feels raw and painful, though it can’t reach full impact based on aforementioned issues. With its story and characters falling short, The Decline does take full advantage of its simple setting to create an immersive landscape; everything from the sets to the environments heightens the distance of the camp from urban civilization. Dimly lit interiors and foreboding forests permeate the area and the environment comes into play at several points. A treacherous traversal of an ice lake is one of the highlights in which the actors skilfully convey the desperation of escape.
While competently made and acted, The Decline falls well short of its potential; outside of its gritty violence and atmospheric setting, the film doesn’t do a whole lot with its characters and story to make an engaging production. What could have been a different take on the survival thriller ends up feeling rather middling.
Rating: 2.5/5 Stars (Mediocre)