Louise-Michel begins with a sham of a cremation, culminating in the man in charge asking the grieving congregation if any of them have a light. This foreshadows the numerous botched attempts later in the film to take a man’s life. French filmmakers Gustave de Kervern and Benoit Delepine, who also co-wrote and directed Aaltra (2004) and Avida (2006) bring us an absurdist tale under a backdrop of harsh economic times.
In real life, Louise Michel was a French anarchist and militant activist who supported social revolution, spent time in prison and was deported. In the film, it is a man and a woman; Louise (Yolande Moreau) and Michel (Bouli Lanners), who are brought together by a twist of fate. Louise, a monosyllabic, illiterate woman (who used to be a man) has a job in a factory but one day, she turns up to work with her fellow employees only to find the factory completely empty. Everything has been cleared out without warning and there is no sign of their boss. Angry and frustrated, the factory workers decide to put the compensation money they get to good use and hire a hitman to murder the man responsible for them being made redundant.
