#TIFF23 Review: Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person (Centrepiece)

By John Corrado

★★★ (out of 4)

The 2023 Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 7th to 17th, more information on tickets and showtimes can be found right here.

What happens when a vampire develops a conscience and doesn’t want to kill? This is the predicament facing Sasha (Sara Montpetit), a teenaged vampire in Montreal who can’t bring herself to end a life in order to feed on blood (something that is essential for a vampire’s survival). Sasha’s plight is explored in Quebec filmmaker Ariane Louis-Seize’s confident and stylish feature debut Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person, a teen vampire romance that is both memorably titled and surprisingly sweet.

Sasha would prefer to just suck on the pre-packaged blood bags provided by her parents (Steve Laplante and Sophie Cadieux) instead, but her family is getting tired of supporting her, and see it as a reality that sooner or later she will need to sharpen her skills in order to survive. Then she meets a boy named Paul (Félix-Antoine Bénard), a suicidal teen who no longer wants to be alive, and would gladly give himself up for the cause. The two form a tender bond, which provides the beating emo heart behind the film.

Louis-Seize, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Christine Doyon, imbues Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person with an icy cool gothic atmosphere that matches the moody teenaged aesthetic. This is a vampire movie that will inevitably draw comparisons to other entries in the genre (yes, including Twilight), but also establishes enough of its own identity to stand out. It’s a little bit Let the Right One In and a little bit Only Lovers Left Alive, sure, but by way of a more morose Wes Anderson, whose stylistic influences are felt on the film.

Lest her film get fully caught up in its Tumblr-era emo mindset with an existential love story between someone who doesn’t want to kill and another who doesn’t want to live, Louis-Seize also infuses it with deadpan humour right from the darkly funny opening flashback. It’s a tonal balance that somehow works, as Louis-Seize builds to a surprisingly touching conclusion. The film is carried by sensitive performances from Montpetit and Bénard, with a pulsing score by Pierre-Philippe Côté.