Article by: Alessandra Sottini
Translation by: Carlotta Anna Antonacci
In Ailleurs la Nuit, presence and absence are two faces of a coin: among personal doubts, fleeting encounters and secret bonds, the lives of six characters echo into one another. Although the drama of this dichotomy springs from its paradoxical representation in Pirandello’s work, in Ailleurs la Nuit it is incommunicability and silence that make it noticeable.
In the film written and directed by Canadian director Marianne Métivier – competing in the features section of the 43rd edition of Torino Film Festival – opposites struggle to attract each other. The title evokes the most hidden aspect of the human soul, and “somewhere” and “the night” seem to recall the mystery and the weakness of relationships with oneself and with others.
Métivier’s directing technique serves the storytelling since it unravels its unfolding. The eye of the camera inquires into situations and episodes which are intertwined with each other, thanks to the skillful use of framings which associate the characters’ emotional experiences, while the cold tones of the cinematography highlight the feeling of alienation. The director’s gaze does not intend to be voyeuristic, instead, it carefully tries to get closer, allowing a discrete identification with the characters: despite their personal dramas, they end up seeing themselves into one another through a shared feeling.
And that distance which seemed to be unbridgeable – further emphasized by the long shots and attenuated by small gestures – becomes more and more accessible thanks to the close contact with both natural and urban space.
Ailleurs la Nuit is an intimate portrait which places at its center the weakness of feeling uprooted and trapped in a life that slips through our fingers.
Article published on “la Repubblica Torino” on November 22 2025.