“Geoffroy C. Dedenis is a young French director who has previously made several short films. For the enigmatically titled short feature Abaddon, Dedenis obtained funding from an arts organisation — the production values are superb throughout. As to the title, it might be an arcane cultural reference which I am not familiar with or even a play on English language street argot — a bad ‘un — I am none the wiser.

Abaddon is a challenging piece of work that involves a graphic depiction of self-harm. For IFL readers who feel they would be uncomfortable with the subject matter, I would suggest that they might be best to not watch the film and not read on as this review will discuss the self-harm sequence in some detail.

The movie depicts events in the life of Gaspard, a young gay man who sells sex for money — as the story unfolds this attribute appears to be a key part of Gaspard’s identity. Gaspard is played by Romi Debart who puts in a strong performance — so strong that even though the script portrays the character as somewhat unpleasant Debart makes the audience empathise with them.

The director uses three techniques to build the picture. There is an omniscient narrator who tells us Gaspard’s inner thought processes, flashback scenes involving Gaspard’s childhood experiences and graphic depictions of three sexual encounters that the character undertakes. The latter are intended to illustrate Gaspard’s emotional response to sexual desire and to human relationships.

Dedenis weaves the strands together so adroitly that after watching Abaddon, I felt as though I had read a tightly paced, beautifully written novella. Astonishingly, Dedenis successfully inserts into the story two non-human actors that I came to be fascinated by — Gaspard’s bedsit where almost all the action takes place and a malfunctioning fridge.“

Read the full review of ABADDON -> Indy Film Library