A psychological supernatural horror that turns Christmas into a demonic miracle nightmare. 

• Scare factor: ★★☆☆☆
• Surreal factor: ★★★★☆
• Psychological factor: ★★★★★
• Christmas factor: ★★★☆☆

The Advent Calendar, also known as Le calendrier is a supernatural psychological Belgian, French language horror film about a young woman who is a paraplegic and who is offered a chance at a new life but not without making some sacrifices. It stars Eugénie Derouand, Clément Olivieri, Honorine Magnier. Directed and written by Patrcik Ridremont.

Duration 1h 44m.

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Plot

Eva Roussel is a young woman who is a paraplegic and doesn’t lead a happy life. She has a shitty job, a horrible boss, her friend Sophie works in Germany and Eva spends her time at home with her dog or in the park. Until on December 3, her birthday Sophie comes to visit her as a surprise and brings gifts. One of those gifts is a wooden antique Advent Calendar box. On the back of the box is written: dump it and I’ll kill you, signed Ich. When she opens the first door with a key it contains a candy in a wrapper. On that wrapper are written three rules. The first rule is that if she eats one, she has to eat all of them, or she’ll die. The second rule states that she must respect all rules, or she’ll die. The third rule says that if she dumps it, I’ll kill you. 

Eva eats the first candy and that sets the magic or curse in motion, while a demon stirs. Each day at midnight the Calendar tells her that it’s midnight and she has to open it. Each candy offers texts like: to cure hurt destroy what hurt you. And Jesus said to the cripple arise and walk. Eva comes to believe that if she eats the candies, she will walk again. That doesn’t come without sacrifices. First the demon eliminates her enemies, then it helps her to fall in love, but then it gets weirder, she loses time, hours, and days even, she loses her memories of what happened. 

The calendar demon becomes more demanding and cruel, but Eva must obey and keep eating the candy, or she’ll die. And with the promise of being able to walk again, she commits, until the final candy. After all the sacrifices she has to make a choice. 

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Short Review

Eva leads a bleak life. It’s not a happy life, and can hardly be called a life at all. She doesn’t trust people, she’s a bit bitter about what happened to her, which was not her fault, but she is the one dealing with it. She’s mistreated by people either by being overly empathic that is has become condescending, or they just take advantage of her disability, seeing her as weak and helpless. Her friend Sophie comes visit her and when it becomes clear what happened to Eva, the feeling of unfairness is prominent. 

But the Calendar can change all of that. It’s turning her life in something other than boredom, bitterness and loneliness. And it even offers more. It offers her a full life. The only thing is that Eva must make sacrifices. The ending is an open ending. Which makes it very interesting because she has two choices and we don’t get to see which choice she makes. It’s up to the viewer to decide which she’ll choose and that says as much about the viewer as about Eva. 

The film is a slow burn and an introvert film. Just as quiet as Eva herself. The story focuses on her, how the environment treats her, how she experiences life, and what history is behind her being in a wheelchair. The cinematography perfectly enhances her mood and what’s happening to her. The design of the demon is creepy and adds to the lore. It remains unknown where the Calendar came from, what this demon is. It feels evil and like a blessing at the same time. Depends on from whose perspective you see this magic or curse. The imagery is surreal and the use of colors and lighting adds to the miracle/nightmare. There are some clues and hints of other people before and after her that tells us the Calendar finds its way to people who need it. Whether they need to learn a lesson, or an offer of a shot at a new life. Although it’s a rollercoaster, it’s not a joyous one.

The Advent Calendar offers a psychological gift for Christmas with a demon packed inside that will intrigue with surreal imagery and illusions and has an interesting question for you at the end.