‘Incroyable mais Vrai’ (a.k.a. 'Incredible but True') is a fantasy comedy that follows Alain and Marie as they move into the house of their dreams in the suburbs. As forewarned by the real estate agent, a hidden secret in the basement will change their lives.
Alan and Marie are shown around a house by Franck. Already satisfied with what they have seen, Franck shows them to the basement, leading them though a hatch in the floor. Emerging on the top floor of the house, Franck reveals to Alain and Marie that they have traveled 12 hours into the future. As a side effect, Franck also reveals that passing through the tunnel has a reverse ageing effect, rejuvenating the traveler by 3 days.
Perplexed, Alain and Marie buy the house. Intrigued by the idea of getting younger, Marie starts using the tunnel frequently. On an off chance, Alain’s boss Gérard and his girlfriend Jeanne stop by, as it turns out Gérard lives near by. Alain invites them for dinner, where it is revealed that Gérard has recently undergone a medical procedure, replacing his penis with an electronic one that he is able to control via his smartphone.
Marie makes use of the tunnel more frequently, yet is unconvinced by its age-reversing effects. One day she takes a rotten apple in with her only to emerge with the apple to be reconstituted to its original form. As Alain takes a bite out of it, the core of the apple is revealed to be rotten and filled with ants. Distraught, Marie and Alain seek medical advice to no avail.
Seeing Marie less due to her trips in the tunnel, Alain goes to the shooting range with Gérard, where his boss manages to damage his electronic penis due to shotgun blow-back, forcing him to flee to Japan to get it repaired. Gérard instructs Alain to visit with Jeanne as it is her birthday and to bring her a gift. On his way to her, Alain sees Jeanne meeting with another man.
Back at home, Marie and Alain have an argument where Marie reveals her desire to become a model, with her behaviour becoming increasingly erratic as she manages to reverse her age drastically. By chance, Alain runs into Franck, and asks about side effects of traveling in the tunnel. Franck asks Alain if he had read the fine print of the sales agreement, stating that there may be severe physical and psychological damage caused by excessive use of the tunnel.
Gérard is later shown returning to France and eventually leaving Jeanne. He is then shown getting married and getting a new car. Over time Gérard strays and his wife leaves him as she catches him with his secretary. Enraged, Gérard’s wife smashes his car with a golf club. Gérard is then shown having several subsequent failed relationships and several new cars.
Alain and Marie argue about the tunnel and Alain attempts to have it closed as Marie has regressed to a much younger age, but becomes mentally unstable. Alain eventually, seals the hatch and Marie suffers a mental breakdown and is hospitalized. Alain is later shown enjoying a quiet afternoon fishing by a lake, with Marie sectioned at a hospital. The final scene focuses on Marie as she cuts herself, revealing live ants emerging from within.
‘Incroyable mais Vrai’ is a satirical look at a youth-obsessed culture. Through Alain and Marie, we are shown the diametrically opposing takes on rejuvenation, as Alain is not interested in the wondrous and magical properties of his house, where as Marie becomes heavily influenced by the potential she sees in the tunnel.
Through Alain we see a man who is more invested in the everyday minutia of work ad home life, worrying about finalizing a contract and what to have for dinner. Even though he is aware the tunnel is there and witnesses the anti-ageing effects is possesses, Alain remains disinterested. Focusing on the here and now, his character is shown not as rejecting the possibility of rejuvenation, but rather as as disinterested in trying to alter the natural course of life.
On the other end of the spectrum, Marie becomes obsessed. She is shown ignoring everything else, and favouring the tunnel over having dinner with her husband. As time progresses and Marie becomes younger, her sanity begins to unravel. As the sole focus of her life becomes an obsession over looks, Marie is sent away, attesting to the unhealthy way in which she had chosen to spend her time.
As a B story, but very much focused on perpetuating the morale of the feature, Gérard’s absurd and comedic exploits follow the man as he wades through a slew of different partners and new cars. Gérard’s montage towards the end of the film solidifies the point of futility in his exercise to always be n the lookout for the next new thing, the upgrade that will somehow improves his life. The characters ultimate undoing, as he presumably dies in a car crash caused by his electronic penis catching on fire, serves well to illustrate to the viewers that an unhealthy obsession with the newest trends may be an exercise in vanity that rarely leads to a favourable conclusion.
Even though the film touches on a very weighty topic, the tone of ‘Incroyable mais Vrai’ is humorous throughout. Dealing with the subject matter through an abstract lens, the movie entertains with purposefully drawn out and frustrated dialogue and awkward interactions, getting the best out of the cast by creating and placing them in uneasy and uncomfortable situations.
‘Incroyable mais Vrai’ delivers a serious message through an upbeat and quirky feature, inviting its viewers to suspend their disbelief, to allow for the possibility of the unexplainable and to learn from it. Not too bogged down with being overly serious, the film manages to drive home the message with its closing scenes, - sombre and tragic in tone, unlike anything that had preceded it.
Score: 4/4
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