After a showing at the Venice Film Festival, Athena has finally arrived on Netflix. So, big hit or little flop according to the French and US media?
What is that talking about?
Abdel calls back from the front after the death of his younger brother, who died after an alleged police intervention, and finds his family devastated. Between his younger brother Karim’s desire for revenge and his older brother Moktar’s trafficker’s business in jeopardy, he tries to defuse tensions. Minute by minute, the city of Athena is transformed into a fortified castle, the scene of a family and collective tragedy to come. Just when everyone thinks they have found the truth, the city is about to fall into chaos…
Athena, by Romain Gavras with Dali Benssalah, Sami Slimane, Anthony Bajon…
What does the press think?
According to Cinemateaser
When a large white horse appears between the bars of buildings, surrealism disrupts the viewer’s experience, caught in a vice between the crude realism of “suburban cinema” and images of other places, from Helm’s Deep or from ‘Hollywood’. An aesthetic and political clash – the film ends with a very contemporary statement – ATHENA stands out as one of the best French films of the 21st century.
5/5
Read the full review here.
According to GQ
To say that Athena is a feat is an understatement. It is a film that we rarely see in the life of a viewer, which prohibits nothing and tackles all the issues it tackles head-on. […]Nothing to fear, Athena is unforgettable.
5/5
Read the full review here.
According to The Sunday Journal
The story, governed by a unity of place and time, unites virtuoso sequence shots to restore chaos with exceptional power and fury.
4/5
Read the full review here.
According to variety
Athena is not propaganda. Of course, the film can be seen as a call to action, giving audiences a taste of the resistance, but screenwriters Gavras, Ly, and Elias Belkeddar temper that aspect very cautiously.
4/5
Read the full review here.
According to The Hollywood Reporter
Athena is shocking, a movie that will leave you bruised, until its sobering final reveal. 4/5
Read the full review here.
According to Le Parisian
Stereotypes are discarded (about the children of immigrants, radicalization, the police, young people) and, by blurring all the references, Gavras ends up bordering on a form of powerful theatrical abstraction. But if his portrait of insurgent brothers plays with this radicalism, it also constitutes his limit.
3/5
Read the full review here.
According to Les Inrockuptibles
Gavras claims to place himself under the aegis of ancient tragedy (just that), actually having more to do with the imagery of online gambling pubs than any dramatic tradition of ancient nobility.
1/5
Read the full review here.