Watch Avida

Avida is a surreal and enigmatic film from director Gustave de Kervern and Benoît Delépine, focusing on the strange and often bizarre adventures of two oddball characters - Avida (Anselme), a hulking and silent bodyguard who serves as the film’s protagonist, and Mr. Tambour (Fernando Arrabal), a wealthy and eccentric businessman with an insatiable appetite for adventure.

Despite their apparent differences, Avida and Mr. Tambour form an unlikely and mysterious bond, as the latter hires the former to help him carry out a series of bizarre and often baffling tasks across the French countryside.

From abducting a prize dog to staging a fake car accident to help Mr. Tambour fake his own death, the various exploits of these two odd characters take them on a strange and surreal journey through the darkest and most bizarre corners of the human psyche.

Throughout the course of the film, we are treated to a series of strange and surreal vignettes, each one more absurd and bizarre than the last. From a man who insists on living inside a refrigerator to a group of nuns who worship a statue of Elvis, the various characters that populate Avida are as strange and fascinating as the world they inhabit.

What makes Avida truly stand out, however, is the film’s unusual and avant-garde style. Shot in black and white with dreamlike cinematography that often blurs the line between fantasy and reality, Avida is a film that defies easy categorization. Part satire, part absurdist comedy, and part existential drama, the film is an exercise in abstract storytelling that challenges viewers to open themselves up to its unconventional narrative style.

Despite its cryptic and often inscrutable nature, however, Avida is never less than captivating. Driven by a magnetic lead performance from Anselme as Avida, the film is a surreal journey through a world that is both strange and familiar. By turns hilarious, heartbreaking, and deeply unsettling, it is a film that rewards its viewers with unexpected insights into the human condition, even as it leaves them questioning everything they thought they knew about the world around them.

Ultimately, Avida stands as a testament to the power of cinema to challenge our preconceived notions, to transport us to new and unfamiliar worlds, and to force us to confront the deeper truths that underlie our own existence. Whether you are a fan of surreal and thought-provoking film or simply looking for something that defies easy categorization, Avida is a true cinematic gem that deserves to be seen and appreciated by audiences the world over.