“Meanwhile on Earth” (Pendants ce temps sur Terre) est un film dramatique de science fiction francais 2024, qui a été réalisé par Jérémy Clapin. The storyline of the movie centers around Elsa – Megan Northam, who is now 23 but lost her brother Franck during a space mission three years prior to the present storyline. Things escalate for Elsa when she receives communication from some life form that tells her it can retrieve her brother, Franck, and bring him back to Earth.
Cast & Crew
- Director: Jérémy Clapin
- Writer: Jérémy Clapin
- Producer: Marc du Pontavice
- Main Cast:
- Elsa played Megan Northam
- Annick Catherine Salee
- Daniel Sam Louwyck
- Franck Dimitri Dore
- Audrey Sofia Lesaffre
- Augustin Nicolas Avinée
- Franck Yoan Germain Le Mat
- Sidonie Sabine Timoteo
Release and Reception
The film was released for the first time in Berlin in the month of February of the year 2024 during the 74 Berlin Internaitonal Film Festival under the Panoroma section. It was next distributed to theaters in France on May 1st, 2024, through Diaphana Distribution. “Meanwhile on Earth” has been positively appraised over the Internet with an 88% acceptance level on Rotten Tomatoes and a miserly 63% out of 100 score on Metacritic.
Critical Insights
Reviewers have praised the film for its images and the design of its general idea which aims at visually presented content with hardly any written text.
The Hollywood Reporter’s Jordan Mintzer was also impressed and stated “It allows director Clapin to take us beyond our desolate everyday lives to a place we can indeed dream of.” Damon Wise from Deadline called the picture ‘a strange, a poetic and an endearingly surreal meditation on the reasons why loss affects us in intricate ways that we do not anticipate.’
Availability
“Meanwhile on earth” , as at November 2024 is streaming on several platforms. For viewers from India, it is possible to watch the film through foreign platforms which specialize in French films.
Cultural Significance
Simultaneously, “Meanwhile on Earth” pushes the boundaries of grief by exploring human emotions, relationships, and the unknown. What is more, Clapin’s decision to intersperse animated scenes in live-action serves not only the plot but also portrays the main character’s psyche as well her psychedelic experiences. The international success of the film at film festivals certainly testifies the universality of its ideas and the increasing popularity of French sci-fi cinema in the world.
Everyone who seeks for more than just the portrayal of a particularly complicated relationship will find ‘Meanwhile on Earth’ a very interesting work as it seeks to describe the very nature of loss and the human mind.