British filmmaker Alex Garland had it all to deliver a hard-hitting and memorable commentary on misogyny and toxic masculinity. Mission accomplished ? Yes and no. Because if we will remember his Men for a long time, it is not necessarily for the right reasons.

A young widow, Harper intends to treat herself to a few weeks of respite and calm in the English countryside, just to grieve and come to her senses following the sudden death of her husband. But what was supposed to be an oasis of peace will quickly take on a sinister air through chance encounters with various men with disturbing behavior.

The trailer for Men (Eux, in its French version) piqued our curiosity when it was unveiled earlier this year. Distributed by the A24 box, which has become synonymous with excellence in horror, this new feature film promises to be as powerful as it is relevant.

And it is. Until a certain point.

Because the filmmaker Alex Garland succeeds in meticulously establishing a climate of palpable and suffocating tension for more than an hour. It's frontal, it's confronting, it's anxiety-provoking... in short, it's frankly successful. The unease that it manages to arouse in the moviegoer is real, sustained and all in all particularly powerful. We recognize the master hand that gave us the excellent Ex Machina, in 2014.

Laughable Last Act

But the Briton unfortunately ends up sinking into excess and outrageous violence in a frankly laughable third act. Exit finesse, subtlety and meticulousness; we are thrown in our face a denouement – ​​the details of which we will obviously not reveal – stultifying, fuel with wobbly metaphors and low-level symbolism.

We retain, however, the impeccable game of Jessie Buckley, capable of embodying resilience as well as vulnerability. The actress achieves nothing less than a tour de force, like Toni Collette in Hereditary, another offering that made A24 famous.