THE 9TH LIFE OF LOUIS DRAX

US, 2016, 108 minutes, Colour.
Jamie Dornan, Sarah Gadon, Aiden Longworth, Aaron Paul, Oliver Platt, Molly Parker, Julian Wadham.
Directed by Alexandre Aja.

The title certainly sounds intriguing – is Louis Drax something of a cat with nine lives or beyond?
The screenplay was written by the son of Anthony Minghella, actor Max Minghella. The director is Alexandre Aja, whose main work has been in variations of horror genre is. This serves him well in making a psychological story with touches of the bizarre.

Louis (Aiden Longworth), aged nine, gives the voice-over to the film, starting with his birth, the agony for his mother, his difficult childhood with a range of accidents, lights falling on him, electrocution at a socket and, eventually, his falling over a cliff – but surviving, dying, spasm and his coming to life again.

In the present, a doctor expert in child coma, played by Jamie Dornan (best known for a variety of 50 Shades) does his best for the child while attracted to his distraught mother (Sarah Gadon). Since the boy’s father, Peter (Aaron Paul) has disappeared, the police take an interest in the child and his mother (Molly Parker as a rather hard-boiled detective).

Louis tells his story in flashbacks, where we see the mother’s love, hear her story about Louis’ conception, of Peter being a foster father, of his being an extraordinarily loving father-figure, of the clash between husband and wife leading to the fatal picnic where Louis falls over the cliff.

Oliver Platt plays a very affable psychiatrist with a skill in hypnosis and the doctor agrees to be hypnotised because there have been some links between the unconscious Louis and the doctor – which offers revelation and a twist on what audiences might have been expecting.

1. The title, expectations? The work of the director – and working in the horror tradition?

2. The blend of realism and fantasy?

3. The opening, the voice-over, the collage of Louis’s accidents, near-death experiences? The pain of his birth, the light fixtures falling on him, the electric shock, falling over the cliff? And the audience seeing these incidents again at the end with a different perspective?

4. Louis, a boy, aged nine, in himself, intelligent, self-aware, understanding his parents, reading, at school and his being criticised? The strong bond with his mother, protective? The strong bond with his father, a true father-figure? Building up to the picnic, the cliff, the quarrel, the fall, the helicopter and his being lifted to hospital?

5. The response of his mother, her being upset, the hospital, desperate, waiting?

6. Dr Pascal, his giving the TED lecture, the fans? Call to the hospital, his particular expertise, children and coma? The situation, his friend, the doctor, and the surgery, in detail? The time of death, recorded? The sudden spasm, after two hours, Louis alive? The mystery, in a coma? The doctor, the staff and the treatment?

7. His mother, in herself, her age, her relationship with Peter, take his name? Seeing them together? The flashbacks – and in the light of the latest story? The pregnancy, her age, being raped, the name of the father, Joe? Her shame? Revelation that she wanted to adopt Louis? The difficulties of the birth, growing up with Louis, his accidents? Peter, his care at the hospital, marrying him? His becoming a true father to Louis?

8. Peter, the flashbacks, his first wife, leaving her, careful of his mother, the bonds, the wedding? His being a true father, the gifts, the bonding at home, talking, the room? Sea World and meeting his first wife, asking Louis not to tell, his telling his mother? His decision to leave and give Louis’s mother space? The buildup to the picnic, the quarrel?

9. Dr Pascal, at the party, his friend the doctor the barbecue, and seeing Louis’ mother, attracting the men, talking the kitchen, the reaction of his wife? At the hospital, kissing her, her wanting somewhere to stay, the room in the hospital, his talking with her? The police cautioning him? Learning more of the truth, his being upset confronting her?

10. Louis, the therapy, the eccentric doctor and his manner, the comic touches, Louis having his measure, yet returning, their interactions and talking, the style, the gradual revelations? His mother stopping the therapy?

11. The episode with the notes, the sinister touches and warnings? Pascal writing with his left hand? Louis’ writing? The police, the Interrogations, the writing expert?

12. The arrival of Peter’s mother, Peter staying with his mother? Her attacking his mother? Giving the information to the doctor? A new perspective on Louis’s mother?

13. The characters of the police, tough, talking, confronting Pascal? The discovery of Peter’s body, near where Louis fell? Identifying the body, Pascal at the morgue?

14. The continuing puzzle, the doctor and his expertise on hypnosis, his methods? Pascal agreeing to be hypnotised? The techniques, Pascal and the experience of hypnosis? His being interrogated as Louis, his answering in his voice? The information, the revelations of the truth?

15. Louis, waking, returning to coma? The truth about his mother, her being institutionalised?

16. The plausibility of the story? A what if… Story?