Adrien Baget 18:00 p.m., November 06, 2023

American director David Fincher, well known for his psychological thrillers such as Seven or Zodiac, is back on November 10 on Netflix. A portrait of an international hitman, "The Killer" is a violent film, full of irony and black humor. Europe1 was able to see the film in preview and gives you 5 good reasons to dive into Michael Fassbender's head.

Suffice to say that the latest film from the director of Fight Club was highly anticipated. Not in cinemas, but on Netflix, with whom David Fincher has been collaborating since the launch of the world-famous series House of Cards, for which he directed the first episodes in 2013. A partnership that guarantees him total artistic freedom and a rather comfortable budget.

His latest film to date for the platform: Mank was released in 2020, a black and white Hollywood chronicle that revealed the other side of this dream industry as tragic as it is ruthless. This time, the 61-year-old director returns to what he does best. The Killer is a radical thriller, set like clockwork and which has its origins in a French graphic novel...

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The adaptation of a French comic book

Recommended by one of her friends, the comic book entitled Le Tueur signed by the Frenchies Matz and Luc Jacamon seems tailor-made for David Fincher. "She told me that there were a lot of dead bodies and a bit of a kinky side. It was bound to interest me," laughs the filmmaker who is visiting Paris. The film takes up the dark, very graphic and bloody side of the comic book. It follows the story of a murderer who tries to take revenge on his employers after a contract goes wrong. From France to the United States via the Caribbean, the film addresses the psychology of a murderer, his daily life and the globalization of crime.

Michael Fassbender chills as a methodical killer

After 4 years of absence from the screens, actor Michael Fassbender impresses as a solitary and totally impersonal killer (he has no name). A very physical performance where the spectator follows his murderous journey and his thoughts told in voice-over with (often) a touch of black humor. An interior monologue that also plunges the viewer into a bath of uncertainty. "Subjectivity was needed to the extreme. You get into the character's eye and share his conscience," explains David Fincher. "The question is, is this the truth?" he asks, "because a lot of people lie to themselves."

© Netflix

Very pop-rock music

While each of David Fincher's films pays close attention to the soundtrack, The Killer is no exception. In addition to his regular composer Trent Reznor, this time he chose to draw from the songs of the English rock band The Smiths. The film is divided into as many chapters as the titles of a playlist that punctuate the killer's daily life. With headphones in his ears and his finger on the trigger, Michael Fassbender observes his target, the track "How Soon Is Now?" at full blast.

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A source of concentration before each act but also of distancing oneself from what is to follow. "I wanted to use this piece as a kind of meditative music for the character. It's a sardonic and witty work," says the director. One thing's for sure, you're not done listening to it over and over again after watching the movie.

© Netflix

A B-series with a Fincher twist

From a chase through the streets of Paris at night to a scene of tailing or settling scores, The Killer takes all the visual codes of the B-movie but hijacks them in the Fincher way. If the motif of the hitman is a genre in its own right in cinema, already seen over and over again, the filmmaker seeks more to revisit this archetype than to reinvent it. A rereading that takes a rather ironic look at modern society where technological tools facilitate mass surveillance.

Smartwatch, surveillance cameras, tools and gadgets bought on Amazon. Throughout the film, the killer moves like a fish in water in an uberized world that looks a lot like our own. If Michael Fassbender's character constantly repeats that you have to "stick to the plan", a guarantee of efficiency in your work, it is above all David Fincher who speaks through him. With The Killer, he doesn't miss his target.

The Killer available on Netflix on November 10, 2023.