Sibyl (DVD Review)
**”Sibyl” is now available on DVD from Music Box Films. This will be a review of both the film and the DVD.**
I know a handful of mental health professionals, and not just as a patient, and I cannot imagine the personal stress that they go through. Their patients put their mental health in their hands, and they have to maintain a life of their own. In “Sibyl,” the title character finds herself struggling with that, so she takes a break. That’s not an easy thing to admit to herself, much less her patients. In doing so, however, she opens herself up to more stress than she had before, all because she couldn’t say no to someone in need.
With a few different choices made in her screenplay with Arthur Harari, co-writer/director Justine Triet could have made her film into an elegant, psychosexual thriller, and there are certainly times where the film borders on that. Instead, she aims for a sexy and wicked dark comedy, and she delivers. There are times when you wonder if “Sibyl” is going to hue more towards, say, Bergman’s “Persona” than a melodrama like Almodovar’s work, but she has a clear vision of what she’s doing throughout the film. Admittedly, there are times where you start to lose the plot a bit, but the lead performance by Virginie Efira is so engaging we follow it along.
Sibyl is a therapist who’s been struggling. We see her in AA, and get wind of issues she’s had in her personal life. That’s part of why she is stepping away from taking clients, and returning to her love of writing. The problem is, that’s a struggle, as well. One night, she gets a call from an actress going through a crisis at the hospital (she hasn’t told the hospital she’s not taking new clients). Unable to completely step away from someone in pain, she starts to see Margot (Adèle Exarchopoulos), who’s in a relationship with a colleague, and has gotten pregnant with his baby, and wants to get an abortion, as it might damage her ability to work. While trying to help Margot, Sibyl also starts recording her sessions. She’s suddenly getting inspiration for her book. Sibyl has an awakening that will make it difficult for her to keep her own life straight when she suddenly has to fly to the set of Margot’s next film when she’s having a hard time performing.
What Sibyl does when Margot asks for help is certainly ethically questionable, but the film doesn’t show her as a character who wishes to actively hurt Margot. That is the key to the film’s success; Sibyl is awakened by knowing Margot in a way that her home life, with a husband and kids, just cannot make her feel. Triet is wanting to explore what makes Sibyl tick, and how her better nature as a therapist, and her worst tendencies, feel linked in a lot of ways. She’s a flawed character but an engaging one. I think the sequence where she’s on the set of Margot’s new film might be the best stretch of the film. She becomes invaluable to the production in a way no one could expect, especially when the director (Sandra Hüller, in a scene-stealing performance) is having a hard time with Margot. Of course, that’s where things begin to really go off the rails again for Sibyl, who finds herself in a harder place by the end, but one where she might be better off in the future, and more certain of herself. “Sibyl” is complicated and messy, but engaging and entertaining.
DVD Presentation
“Sibyl” looks and sounds good on this DVD presentation. The cinematography by Simon Beaufils has a lot of depth of image and color as the film goes between comedic and dramatic parts of its narrative, and the 5.1 Dolby Digital french soundtrack is well served.
In terms of extras, there is a fascinating 20-minute montage of interview questions with Triet, Efira, Exarchopoulos, Neils Schneider and Paul Hamy about the inspiration behind the film and their roles in the movie from after the film played the 2019 Cannes Film Festival. We also get a collection of teasers and a theatrical trailer, as well as a 22-image photo gallery. Overall, a sparse collection of extras, but the interviews make up for it.
Film Grade: A-
Audio & Video: B+
Special Features: B
“Sibyl” is a fun movie to watch if you’re a fan of erotic dramas, psychological thrillers with dark humor laced into it. The extras are thin, but the film is worth checking out anyway.
