As his daily life becomes more and more tarnished and it sinks, Mathieu (played by Jérémie Renier) decides to leave everything to settle in the forest. Ailleurs si j'y suis tells his story, but also that of an entourage who does not see more clearly than him.
A world in perdition
In Elsewhere If I'm There, there is not a character who seems to know where he is in his life. Everyone is plagued by doubt and tries to find a way out. It is a real moment of transition, one could even say of handover in this common identity crisis. Between a future ex-wife who is infatuated with a manipulative idiot, a boss who hates his life, a best friend terrified of commitment and a father sickly obsessed with death… Mathieu is ultimately the most seasoned of the lot and his character asks real questions: What is freedom, is letting go essential and to what extent? That seems to be the whole point of the film. There is a real aesthetic contrast (whether in terms of the frame or colorimetry) between everyday life and moments of freedom. We go from cramped and dull spaced to others infinite and colorful, bright. Everyone can find themselves in this story if they need air and feel locked in their daily life. Ailleurs si j'y suis is an initiatory story that wants to make its viewer breathe as much as its characters.
Dreams and fantasies
Nature is the place of liberation in the film and it offers us large beautiful green spaces with a particularly beautiful and significant colorimetry. A real return to the most basic, almost primitive sources of the human being. Each character finds himself attracted by this nature, this immense forest that seems to call them to leave everything. Elsewhere if I'm there borrows from the fantastic in its artistic direction without rubbing shoulders with it in its scenario. The forest is a fantasy that resembles Max Reinhardt's A Midsummer Night's Dream, like a parallel world that makes you happy, at least for a while. Time to succeed in this said passing. This drama/fantasy duality that takes on the air of absurdity works and has no difficulty mixing. It is also the sequences in the forest that stand out the most and prove to be the most successful.
Where are we going?
This is one of the questions posed by Elsewhere if I am there, and it is also its biggest flaw. The film seems to get lost along the way and its purpose may be deliberately vague, in the end it only serves him. It has a taste of unfinished business despite a strong idea and overall well executed and we can not help but come out frustrated. If the initiatory story starts well, it ends up falling flat. We can still note very good acting performances, even excellent on the side of Jérémie Renier and Suzanne Clément and endearing characters. That's what is a shame, the film had everything to succeed but is lost along the way, and neither the daring and fruitful ideas of realization, nor the attachment that can be carried to the characters can help; This is even what makes the fall so rough: we have learned to love them and appreciate their journey to find ourselves frustrated even if the initiatory journey is over. 
We would have liked Ailleurs si j'y suis to have further substantiated its interesting point and its inventive and controlled realization. Despite many good ideas and an overall pleasant moment, the questions he asks are also interesting but the whole thing lacks substance, in the end. A viewing that is worth it that said, if only for its image. Elsewhere if I'm in theaters on March 29
