Omahyra Mota & Karin Viard in “Les Derniers Jours du Monde” [2009 France, Spain]

Larrieu brothers’ (Arnard and Jean-Marie) most recent film, “Les Derniers Jours du Monde” [Eng. title: The Last Days of the World, Festival Title: Happy End] is a typically French take on the apocalypse theme – generally the preserve of Hollywood blockbusters. While the latter rely heavily on grand special effects to propel the story, ‘Dernier Jours’ uses it sparingly and to good effect, instead devoting considerable attention to the people’s mindset as the calamity unfolds.

It is essentially a road movie, where the protagonist – aptly named Robinson, wanders through France and Spain searching for the woman he wants to spend his last few days with, Laetitia, while people keep dropping like flies all around him. We get to know about Laetitia through a jigsaw of flashbacks. He holds faith that she is still alive, somewhere, as those who abducted her surely needed her to be. The film doesn’t delve into the happening cataclysm, merely depicting things happening within Robinson’s vicinity, and that too in the background. The film audience go through a surreal experience, just as anyone living the apocalypse would undergo. Surprisingly for a bleak film, it also has its lighter moments, when we are shown examples of absurdity only capable by humans. I think this film’s a unique cinematic experience, and definitely Recommended Viewing.

Amazon.fr DVD Link

 

 

Compilation 1: Omahyra Mota
We are shown through flashbacks, the purpose behind Robinson’s quest – to find the woman he loves, former barmaid Laetitia, played by Latin American born model, Omahyra Mota.

Omahyra Mota in Les Derniers Jours du Monde

Nude scenes of Omahyra Mota from the film, “Les Derniers Jours du Monde”.

 

 

Compilation 2: Catherine Frot, Karin Viard, and Clotilde Hesme
All these scenes happen in the film’s present time. Robinson has lost one of his hands, and these are his experiences as the world is coming to a violent end.

Catherine Frot, Karin Viard and Clotilde Hesme in Les Derniers Jours du Monde

Scenes of Catherine Frot, Karin Viard and Clotilde Hesme in “Les Derniers Jours du Monde”.

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I’ve made two compilations from the excellent DVD, focusing mainly on different periods of Robinson’s life save one that appears towards the very end – it is also the most sublime moment in the film.


Compilation 1: Omahyra Mota
Scene Guide:

  • Robinson’s first encounter with Laetitia requires no words, it is after all purely sexual.
  • Laetitia and Robinson at the beach.
  • A frustrated Robinson realises that Laetitia is hiding something from him, but he puts up with it,  of course, for what he sees in her. Even her labia is briefly visible in this strategically lit scene.
  • They are at a spa in Taipei where men and women are segregated, but Laetitia breaks protocol and enters the men’s section, much to the displeasure of the Taiwanese gentlemen, and Robinson’s embarrassment.
  • At the hotel, Robinson is visibly annoyed with Laetitia’s behaviour in the toilet.
  • The most beautiful moment in the film. Robinson locates Laetitia back in his flat in a presumably post-apoclyptic Paris. They decide to shed their clothes, as if symbolically starting humanity afresh, and run through the streets of Paris as a naked Adam and Eve. But has everything really ended, for a new beginning..!

 


Compilation 2: Catherine Frot, Karin Viard, and Clotilde Hesme
Scene Guide:

  • No nudity. French refugee Ombaline and Robinson find momentary companionship in Spain. She’s played by Catherine Frot.
  • Certainly the only erotic moment in the film. Robinson heads back to France and runs into his wife Chloé – they have separated. Chloé is now volunteering at a disaster zone, and invites him to her office for ‘lunch’, to relive a happier time. Shame they had to be interrupted by another emergency. Chloé is played by Karin Viard.
  • Iris is dying, she’s the colleague and lover of Robinson’s best friend whom he meets by accident. After the friend shockingly kills himself, Iris requests Robinson to accompany her during the last few moments of her life. Iris is played by Clotilde Hesme.
  • This is a bizarre scene – Robinson stumbles into a ‘Suicide Hotel’, where guests gather to live out their last fantasies for a night before killing themselves. In one instance a woman tries to give Robinson a blow-job. He politely refuses, forgetting that it was the poor woman’s fantasy, and asks her the direction for the Internet room instead.

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Download Links for both Compilations:
Part 1 | Part 2
(Both parts required – unpack with Winrar)

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