Who of us haven’t had the fantasy of just standing up, abandoning whatever work or scholarly pursuit we have been forced into following in order to feel like a valuable member of society, and simply walking away into the distance, escaping the everyday hassle that comes with modern life? For the main character in Let’s Get Lost (French: Ailleurs si j’y suis, also known as Life in the Woods, depending on the source), this is an idea that comes to him instantly, and he disappears on a whim, venturing into the forest, where he spends his days luxuriating in nature, while his family, friends and co-workers all scramble to find him, and once they do, attempt to understand what drove him to leave his entire life behind for the sake of living in the wilderness. Written and directed by François Pirot, who crafts an amusing satire, a film that lampoons modern society in a way that many of us may not expect, using many different techniques that are woven together into this smooth and compelling account of one man’s journey towards complete societal liberation, and how he inspired others to follow him in this valiant pursuit, only to realize that there are more challenges in doing so than anyone could have anticipated – or at least those who aren’t blessed with the power of foresight, since any logical individual will see the inherent flaws that come with such activities. These are all wonderfully evoked in the film, which has a very unique approach to its subject matter – and even when it isn’t as effective as it think it is at times, there is an abundance of worthy concepts that form the foundation for what is not an entirely revolutionary satire, but one that at least has enough unique details to capture our attention – whether it is able to maintain it is a different matter entirely, and one of the many aspects of this film that we are forced to question as we work our way through Pirot’s charming and quaint social satire.

Let’s Get Lost is a film that is heavily rooted in absurdism – it is the only way to fully understand what the director was aiming to convey with this story, which needs to be filtered through a lens that pays particular attention to the more intricate details in relation to its surreal flights of fancy, which populate the entirety of the story. It takes a very simple premise, and gradually develops it to a point where the entire purpose is to subvert our expectations and take us on a peculiar journey into the life of a man who has grown so tired of everyday life, he feels the almost supernatural push to abandon everything and just surrender to his own animalistic desires, living a life of freedom away from prying eyes, and where nothing can convince him to return to normal life – at least not until he undergoes yet another epiphany. It takes some time to fully unpack the scope of this film and how it handles certain themes, and we have to wonder whether Pirot was the right person to tell such a story, since a lot of his films have been more sombre and straightforward, meaning that everything is left quite adrift throughout this film, which never quite knows how to toggle between genres in a way that suggests a clear control of the material, which is one of the more distinct weaknesses that keep the film from being masterful. However, on a purely conceptual level, you have to find value in this film, which is almost entirely aiming to provoke some thought. Satire is a difficult concept to execute without some degree of direction, and considering that he was working with some more abstract ideas that are not easy to condense into meaningful segments, so we can appreciate what we were given, which certainly does have its merits, they’re just sometimes more challenging to find in comparison to the very promising ideas that simmer at the surface.

One of the more enticing aspects of Let’s Get Lost is that it has a terrific cast, with some of the more interesting actors working in modern Francophone cinema having significant roles. Jérémie Renier is the de facto lead, playing the character whose decision to abscond from life and disappear into the wilderness sets off the rest of the story – and while Renier is the closest the film has to a lead, he does eventually fade away as the focus shifts to other characters, which is not always the wisest choice for the film, especially when some of the actors are ill-equipped to be the focus. One person who doesn’t show any signs of struggle is Suzanne Clément, who is an absolute delight and gives the film’s best performance. She plays the protagonist’s tightly-wound but very empathetic wife who realizes their marriage is in trouble, but does her best to ensure that their impending divorce is civil and goes along without any significant challenges, knowing that it is easier to just maintain a sense of normality, rather than just allowing it to spiral out of control. Elegant and hilarious in equal measure, Clément single-handedly makes Let’s Get Lost feel worthwhile, acting as the narrative anchor that keeps the film grounded, which was incredibly important considering how it eventually devolves into chaos. Unfortunately, the rest of the cast struggles to reach the same level of impact as Clément and Renier, which isn’t a slight against their talents, but rather how Pirot uses them. Samir Guesmi, a normally very good actor, is forced to go from charming comedic relief to one of the major characters without any notice – and he seems to have been the last person informed of this sudden change, since he continues to produce the same smarmy, mugging performance that would work in small doses, but doesn’t come across as particularly effective when he develops an individual arc of his own. Veteran actors Jean-Luc Bideau and Jackie Berroyer fare slightly better, but neither is all that developed in their individual characters to warrant becoming so important in the narrative – and the film simply struggles to understand the process of creating an ensemble film in a way that they all work together in symbiosis. Any film that has its main character disappear for long stretches of time, and actively makes the viewer wonder where he went, rather than focus on the characters that we are left with, clearly needs to reconfigure its identity and use of its cast.

Unfortunately, its clear that not everything about Let’s Get Lost is entirely positive, and it is easy to tell that this was a film that was borne from a very simple premise, one around a man literally abandoning his life and walking into the wilderness, without much thought being put into how to resolve the story and bring it to a logical conclusion. As a result, the first two-thirds of the film are fantastic – they’re filled with wit, charm and a lot of very interesting commentary that is both engaging and intriguing. Then when it comes time to resolving the narrative and tying up the loose ends, it begins to fall apart – this is primarily because the story seems to lose director, not knowing exactly which character on which it wanted to focus, and instead trying to take a more abstract approach, looking at how one bizarre event impacted the lives of many other people. It’s a terrific idea in theory, but it becomes far too heavy-handed, and it simply doesn’t have the depth or nuance that it seems to genuinely believe it possesses, which becomes a major point of contention as we try and understand some of the more peculiar choices made by the director in his frequent pursuit of some deeper themes, which weren’t even all that necessary in the film to begin with, since this didn’t need to be some bold and ambitious anti-capitalist manifesto that wages war against the daily rat race. The lack of a clear message beyond that of the initial narrative hook causes the film to quickly fall into disarray, and it never fully recovers, instead meandering along at a laborious pace that betrays the very promising start that captivated our interest in the first place and made us believe the film had a lot more potential. 

There just isn’t enough material in this film to warrant the approach it took, which is why it feels so imbalanced, tonally and narratively. It runs far too long, and the premise is stretched to the point of being beyond tenuous, and the audience begins to pick up on these shortcomings as the narrative unwinds. It just doesn’t amount to anything, and the fact that its entire third act consists of a series of disjointed scenes that supposedly capture the existential angst of these characters (when in reality its just random moments placed together to look compelling) only proves that this is a film that needed much more work in order to have any significant sway, either as a satire or complex psychological comedy about the dangers of consumerism. Its not a film that is entirely bad, or one that doesn’t have merits – instead, it just lacks precision, which we can attribute to the fact that it started with a strong germ of an idea, but didn’t have enough material to stretch it over 100 minutes. There could have been several scenes entirely removed and the film would have been much better, since it wouldn’t need to struggle to fill vacant spaces with sub-plots that don’t reach any cohesive point. Let’s Get Lost is a decently entertaining film, and it has many strong ideas – just not enough to hold our attention, and while it does try its best, it ultimately becomes too much of a chore, and we patiently wait to see the resolution of its multiple plot threads, only to walk away underwhelmed. A middling but enjoyable affair with enough heart to make it a worthwhile diversion, and not much else – its the fact that it could have been so much better than ultimately makes it such a disappointing endeavour.