‘One seed can change everything’
Vesper is a 2022 science fiction drama set after the Earth’s ecosystem has collapsed and focused on a teenage girl who can change the future.
Directed by Kristina Buozyte and Bruno Samper from a screenplay co-written by Brian Clark. Produced by Kristina Buozyte, Daiva Jovaisiene, Asta Liukaityte, Guillaume Natas, Alexis Perrin, Benoit Roland and Florent Steiner.
**There is updated coverage of Vesper here
The Belgian-French-Lithuanian co-production stars Raffiella Chapman, Eddie Marsan, Rosy McEwen, Richard Brake, Melanie Gaydos and Edmund Dehn.
Plot:
After the collapse of Earth’s ecosystem, Vesper, a thirteen-year-old girl struggling to survive with her paralyzed father, meets a mysterious woman with a secret that forces Vesper to use her wits, strength and bio-hacking abilities to fight for the possibility of a future…
Reviews:
“Vesper is certainly indebted to the history of sci-fi and genre films, and many of the beats and visuals of the movie echo cinema past. But Buožytė and Samper still manage to put a very unique stamp on proceedings to create a consistently thought-provoking and immersive affair.” Cineuropa
“The film’s storyline is stretched thin at a few points, mostly because all of it takes place in this post-apocalyptic forest […] The performances by Raffiella Chapman, Eddie Marsan, and Rosy McEwen as a pale, genetically-modified humanoid, are all better than they should be and make the film worthwhile. At the very least it’s a vibrant science fiction thriller with some original ideas…” First Showing
“Like Alfonso Cuarón’s Children of Men, what is so chilling about Vesper is how much it is a reflection of our current reality, despite each film’s futuristic setting. Income inequality and ecological destruction are already running rampant. A movie like this shows us a worst-case scenario, but also gives us hope for a better future even if that worst scenario comes true.” The Playlist
“Vesper’s scale is small – the action is largely limited to the forests of Lithuania – but its scope is large; directors Buozyte and Samper, who previously collaborated on 2012’s Vanishing Waves, do justice to their grand vision despite being limited by their script. Led by a pair of strong performances from Chapman and McEwen, Vesper is an evocative journey through a captivating new world.” The Prague Reporter
“Matters ecological are at the heart of this complex world-build: the instability of natural energy supplies drives the drama. Samper and Buozyte’s conceptualisation, the careful camera of Feliksas Abrukauskas, ingenious production design from Ramūnas Rastauskas and Raimondas Dičius, music by Dan Levy conspire to make. Vesper both more and less than a film at the same time.” Screen Daily
” …the result is never quite generic, with an unsentimental but darkly romantic spirit of risk and peril that feels informed as much by pre-Disney literary fairytales as any science fiction. Chapman’s stoic but winningly vulnerable performance likewise keeps proceedings humane and honestly felt […] Still, it’s the sophisticated technical realization of this desperate dystopia that startles most here…” Variety
Release:
In the US, Vesper will be released by IFC Films theatrically On-Demand (VOD) on September 30, 2022.
Cast and characters:
Raffiella Chapman … Vesper
Eddie Marsan … Jonas
Rosy McEwen … Camellia
Richard Brake … Darius
Melanie Gaydos … Jug
Edmund Dehn … Elias
Filming locations:
Vilnius, Lithuania
Teaser trailer:
