There has been an accident at the mine where the townsfolk of this Quebecois region work, and as it happened in the middle of the night, the miners who were not in attendance must be roused from their beds and rush over to its location, where the manager is trying to work out what happened, and more importantly, whether there are any casualties. One of the younger miners is Maxime (Joakim Robillard), and he is desperate to know who was down there when the explosion went off, the reason being he may well feel responsibility if one man is there who he thinks is there. We go back a couple of months to when Maxime was, if not happy-go-lucky, then at least looking forward to a brighter future, with a baby on the way...
But one of his friends, Julien (Theodore Pellerin), will always be a reminder of his past mistakes, one big one in particular that he feels tremendous guilt about. Guess what? That burden of guilt is about to get a whole lot heavier in a couple of months, but writer and director Sophie Dupuis did not lay all her cards out on the table from the off; yes, we knew there had been a disaster at the local mine, but the reasons for it were not so plain until we were given the whole picture. That involved watching the film from beginning to end, and you had to be warned, it was a tremendously grim affair, putting its character through the mill in a manner that was utterly unforgiving, while offering them occasional shafts of sunlight to enjoy before the darkness enveloped them once more.
In that style Underground, or Souterrain as it was called in its native French language, could be a punishing watch, and not merely for the characters, as there was a lot about facing up to life's home truths, no matter how unpalatable they may be, in this French-Canadian drama. Maxime comes across like a typical, fun-loving twentysomething, yet already there is a darkness in his past, no matter how recent, that we get the impression he is not ready to face up to, and Julien has something to do with this. That is down to Julien having obviously suffered a brain and physical injury that has left him with difficulty walking and talking, indeed basic motor functions take a lot of effort for the poor guy. We do not know right away why, but it appears he was in an accident that we deduce occurred down the pit, though the truth is rather different.
What is apparent is that he used to work at the mine before his mishap, and now his former colleagues are reluctant to get back in touch with him because frankly, he depresses them, as a symbol of what could happen to them if the health and safety protocols either let them down or were ignored. But Maxime, who does make the effort with Julien, has his wife to worry about, for she has endured miscarriages every time she has been pregnant, and it looks like they will have to seriously consider adoption if they want to raise a family together. This feels like an insult to Maxime's masculinity, and while there is respite to all the gloom, significantly when the males decide to get over themselves and spend time together in supportive good cheer, overall this concerned itself with how the modern man fails to cope when life does not go the way they wanted, and that can mean personal downfall or community tragedy. That Dupuis did not present much of a solution could be regarded as a flaw in her film, as no matter how well acted it was, it was damned dejected for most of the running time. Be aware going in it was no barrel of laughs, and you might appreciate it for its melodrama. Music by Patrice Dubuc and Gaetan Gravel.
[Sophie Dupuis' Underground (Souterrain) will be released in Cinemas, Virtual Cinemas and VOD on 20th August 2021.]
