What It's About
"Maelstrom" (2000) is a Canadian art-drama about a young woman named Bibiane (Marie-Josée Croze). She's the daughter of wealthy parents, recently had an abortion, and is struggling with depression. Searching for an escape, Bibiane finds comfort in parties, alcohol, and drugs—until one night she hits someone with her car and flees the scene.From that moment, her life spirals into chaos: guilt and fear merge into one overwhelming force, and an attempted drowning miraculously fails—she survives. Later, fate brings her face-to-face with the son of the very man she accidentally killed.
Source:
imdb.com
The Experience
The film's shot in an early arthouse style: loaded with symbols, metaphors, and unexpected details. The biggest surprise? The narrator. The entire story is told by... a fish, lying on a butcher's cutting board waiting for the knife.This device seems absurd, but it's far from meaningless: we're hearing the voice of a world reminding us about the inevitable cycle of life and death.
"Maelstrom" is a film about inner turmoil. Villeneuve shows his protagonist at her lowest point, then slowly guides her toward the idea that even in the darkest times, rebirth is possible.
What Viewers Say
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 79% Fresh rating, while IMDb gives it 6.7 out of 10. Critics praised the "bold direction" and "poetic visual language," though not everyone warmed to the talking fish narrator. Some called the film "strange but captivating," others deemed it "too eccentric."Audience reactions are just as mixed. Some wrote that it's a "powerful psychological drama with unexpected turns." Others say the film has "nothing particularly special."
