Devils (film, 2002)

12-year-old brother and sister Joseph ( Wentzent Rotier ) and Chloe ( Adele Enel ) go on foot to Marseille , where, according to Joseph, is their home and their parents. They move through the forest and countryside and in the dark, no matter what they are noticed by the police, finding food, penetrating into country villas.

Chloe is sick with autism (although the film does not say so directly). She does not know how to speak, does not contact with others, does not tolerate touch and any actions, whether it is to sleep, to walk, she performs only with the promptings of her brother. But at the same time, she is able to collect with incredible speed and accuracy from pieces of multi-colored plastic and glass, which she always carries with her in a bag, the image of the house. It is always the same two-story house, with yellow walls, blue shutters and a large tree, the swing of which is tied to a branch. Joseph is sure that their home looks like this.

In the next frame, police with dogs chasing heroes in the forest. They find themselves in a police station, where, according to a policeman reading their personal file, it becomes known that Joseph and Chloe were abandoned shortly after birth. They were found on a street in Marseille . When they were six months old, they were separated. Chloe was placed in a special hospital, and Joseph was given to a foster family. From the age of five, Joseph began to demand a meeting with his sister. From the age of six, he constantly ran away from home to find a sister. After that, Joseph was placed in different shelters, until one agreed to accept them both. Two years they lived in this shelter, but four months before the events described in the film, they disappeared.

Children are sent from the police to the shelter, where the director ( Dominic Reimo ) warns Joseph that they are given the last chance to be together. A child psychologist, Doran ( Jacques Bonnaffe ), is trying to convince Joseph that the house that Chloe puts up cannot be an image of their home, and therefore it makes no sense to look for him, that Chloe puts the house down, just to make him feel good. And that Joseph’s dreams that Chloe will recover when he is in their home, have nothing to do with reality, but only harm Chloe himself.

After some time, Doran tells Joseph that his mother came to the shelter, who also looked for him all the time, and that his father died, but Chloe would have to stay in the shelter, because thanks to Doran, she had progress in development. Joseph argues with him trying to convince that all that Chloe needs is to be in her home. But Doran remains adamant.

Having met her mother ( Orelia Petit ), Joseph first of all asks her to take him and Chloe together, but the mother replies that it is impossible to take Chloe home. She further inconsistently says that on the day when she left him she was not in herself (apparently this was due to the death of Joseph’s father), and, seeing another baby on the sidewalk, she put little Joseph beside him and Chloe was not his sister. But, obsessed with the idea of ​​Chloe's recovery in her hometown, Joseph is furious and tells her that she is neither his mother nor everything that she told is true. Joseph breaks the glass door. Mother tries to stop him, but Joseph stabs her in the face with glass and runs off with Chloe, overcoming the fence on the dumped tree.

After the escape, Joseph discovers the mother’s bag in his hands and, opening it, finds documents indicating the place of registration of the mother and the keys to the house. Having reached Marseilles, they find the mother’s house, and although it does not look like the house that Chloe collected, Joseph hopes for her recovery. But when they find themselves inside, no changes take place with Chloe. After they left their mother’s house, Joseph does not know what to do next, but Chloe leads him in a direction known only to her, and leads him to a house that resembles a house from the image of Chloe being collected. Joseph, resigned to the fact that Chloe is not his sister, and thinking that this is her parents' house, persuades Chloe not to enter the house, as her parents will definitely separate them. But Chloe enters the house. There are no owners in the house, and again with Chloe no changes occur. Then Joseph asks Chloe why they were looking for this house then, in order to destroy it and take revenge on her parents. Joseph begins to smash furniture, and, finding gas, sets a fire in the house.

Arriving police arrest them. Joseph is sent to jail, where he tries to commit suicide by hanging himself on a cord, but the overseas guard comes back to life. After that, Joseph was transferred to another prison, but during transportation he managed to escape. He finds Chloe in the hospital in an unconscious state, connected to a life support system, and carries her away in his arms.

After the escape, they live in an abandoned railway tunnel. Since Joseph’s dreams of Chloe’s recovery did not come true, he has a new idea - to go with Chloe to a place where they will not be looked for (apparently abroad). To do this, he commits robberies, taking portfolios from people leaving banks.

Due to the fact that Joseph takes care of the helpless sister, Chloe's fear of touching disappears, and she begins to look for his touch herself. Soon her manifestations of tenderness pass into the sexual sphere. At first, Joseph resists this, but eventually reciprocates.

Joseph goes to his mother’s house. After waiting for her mother to leave the house, Joseph begins to pursue her along the night street. Hearing footsteps behind, mother accelerates step. Joseph is blocked by a police car. Mother, turning around, sees that it was Joseph, but leaves. The policeman who got out of the car asks Joseph what he does on the street at night and asks him to give his last name in order to check it on the computer. Joseph stabs him in the stomach with a knife and runs off into the alley. The second policeman shoots and hits Joseph in the shoulder.

Returning to the tunnel, Joseph discovers that all the money he saved on the road is torn into small pieces, and from these colorful pieces Chloe collected an image of the house. Policemen descend into the tunnel, but Joseph and Chloe manage to escape.

In the next frame, the next morning, the bloodied Joseph and Chloe walk along the main pedestrian street of Marseille. Chloe, smiling, touches passers-by and takes their hands. Then he takes Joseph's hand, leads him to the building and gestures for him to ring the bell. The door opens and a man appears who looks like Chloe ( Frederic Pierrot ). Joseph says an accident has occurred and asks for a call. The man launches the children into the house and shows Joseph where the phone is, but Chloe escapes to another room. The man catches up with Chloe, but when he returns with her to the living room, he sees Joseph placing a knife at the neck of his wife. Joseph tells him that he does not want to do anything bad to them, but if he does, Joseph will cut her throat.

In the next frame, happy Chloe runs around the house and runs into each room. Exhausted from the loss of blood, Joseph talks to the frightened owners of the house. He asks them if they have been living in this house for a long time, to which they answer, which is quite a long time ago. Joseph tells the owners of the house that they just need to rest, and they and Chloe go out into the courtyard, where Chloe begins to swing on a swing repeating the first word spoken in the film - “Joseph”. Joseph sees that this house and the tree next to it with a swing completely repeat the image that Chloe collected from pieces of plastic and glass.

The film contains scenes of nudity, as well as sexual scenes with actors under 14 years old.

No. Name / Artist

1. “Once upon a time” (music from the movie “ Night of the Hunter ”) - Walter Schumann
2. Africa - Rico Rodriguez
3. “I've lost my ignorance (and don't know where to find it” - Dream Warriors & Gang Starr
4. “Where ya 'heart at” - Mobb Deep