Filmemacherin Léa Mysius ("Ava" sowie Drehbuchautorin für Claire Denis und Jacques Audiard) inszenierte mit THE FIVE DEVILS eine mystische und wilde Fantasy-Genre-Fabel aus Familiengeheimnissen und queerer Liebesgeschichte.
Die achtjährige Vicky hat eine geheimnisvolle Gabe: Sie kann jeden beliebigen Duft reproduzieren, der ihr begegnet, sogar den ihrer geliebten Mutter Joanne. Als Vickys entfremdete Tante Julia unerwartet in das Bergdorf zurückkehrt, stürzt die Heraufbeschwörung ihres Duftes das junge Mädchen in eine Zeitreise, die das Geheimnis um Joannes flammende Vergangenheit mit ihrer heutigen Schwägerin Julia nach und nach lüftet.

"One of France's most celebrated young screenwriters, whose recent collaborators include such luminaries as Jacques Audiard, Claire Denis, and Arnaud Desplechin, Léa Mysius established herself as a vibrant new directorial voice with her bold and daring feature debut, "Ava". Her sophomore feature, THE FIVE DEVILS, is every bit as distinctive and stylistically audacious in telling the story of Vicky (Sally Dramé, a major discovery in her debut), who is gifted with the ability to reproduce the scent of anyone and anything she encounters. Vicky's supernatural talent forms just one part of this wrenching family drama as mother Joanne (Adèle Exarchopoulos) struggles to maintain a rocky relationship with her husband (Moustapha Mbengue) after his enigmatic sister (Swala Emati) returns to town, against a turbulent backdrop of rural French racism and homophobia. Mysius crafts a spellbinding tale as unpredictable as it is enthralling." Film at Lincoln Center

"THE FIVE DEVILS captivates from its very first seconds... and it is hard to believe that the film is a sophomore feature... Exarchopoulos is at her best here, playing a force of nature. From its first beginning, THE FIVE DEVILS feels like the inevitable encounter of indestructible drives, which send sparks flying both when they are satisfied and when they are denied." Elena Lazic, The Playlist (2022)

"Mysius is less interested in spinning a neat and tidy story than delivering a cinema that is pregnant with inexplicable sensations... She retains the sense of her film being a glistening and mysterious object, you can watch but can’t touch." Sophie Monks Kaufman, IndieWire (2022)