You cannot fault The Five Devils’ ambition. This 2022 French drama, directed and co-written by Léa Mysius, already has its hands full dealing with small town prejudice and race. Mysius and co-writer Paul Guilhaume then expand it to cover issues of mental illness, school bullying, and sexuality. On top of it all they add an element of fantasy, and subsequently blend that with a little science fiction. To be honest, some elements get worrisome enough that one could argue they were horror. There is debate over whether or not these aspects all blend together, but the film’s best scenes certainly outweigh any weaker ones. It is well worth watching to decide for yourself.

Vicki (Sally Dramé) is a young girl with the odd ability to identify pretty much any scent. Not only that: she has the ability to mix together liquids and random objects to precisely replicate each smell that she encounters. One more: when Vicky huffs on the vapours based on each individual person, she can slip back in time and observe that person’s past.

It is a weird, entirely unexpected framework for a story that actually concerns her parents. Her mother Joanne (Adèle Exarchopoulos) is a fitness coach at a local recreation centre. Her father Jimmy (Moustapha Mbengue) is an African immigrant who works as a firefighter. The story is spurred into action when they are visited by Jimmy’s younger sister Julia (Swala Emati), whose ominous past – unknown to Vicki at first – sends uncomfortable ripples through the town. The performances are excellent across the board.

Thanks to the combination of bleak back story and time-travelling observation, The Five Devils is able to reveal the mystery not just in a satisfying way but a vivid one too. At first it seems Vicki is using her concoctions to experience visions of the past: to observe both her mother and Julia as rebellious high schoolers. The electrifying shock that pretty much cements the film’s opening act comes when the teenage Julia observes back: the film contains not flashbacks or visions, but time travel.

There is a gloomy, foreboding atmosphere that surrounds the film. It is set in a cold, icy town surrounded by mountains that raise the horizon and up the oppressive tone. The story slowly builds itself in a manner akin to solving a puzzle. Small details unravel to reveal key back story. Motivations that initially feel confusing suddenly click into stark, shocking place. Paul Guilhaume’s photography enhances his own screenplay.

If there is a downside, it is that the ambition of the film is so outré and exaggerated that the realisation of it simply cannot complete. It is an excellent melodrama begging to instead be a masterpiece. Perhaps its problem is that pugging has been just slightly over-egged. Each idea never quite gets the space to be explored to its best extent, and the result feels just a little too rushed.

It is worth watching both The Five Devils and Celine Sciamma’s 2021 hit Petite Maman. Both deal with relationships between mothers and daughters, and both make creative use of time travel to undertake them. To discover one film like this was a surprise. To find two – each brilliantly told and expressed – within a year of each other feels like a minor miracle.