Stéphane — Stéphane (Blu Ray)
From early 2020’s, Stéphane is a French found-footage film that blends awkward/ cringe inducing comedy, a wonky buddy movie, and uneasy/ creepy thriller. It follows a full-of-himself short-film director who gets involved with an unpredictable, odd, and highly manipulative middle-aged man who claims he’s an effects artist/stuntman. Here from Arrow Video UK is a Blu-ray release of the film. Taking in a new commentary track and never-before-seen deleted scenes.
Stéphane is from the year 2023. It was co-directed & co-written by Timothée Hochet and Lucas Pastor. Hochet was born in Valence, France- he has twenty-six writer & director credits to his name; these include TV episodes & shorts- this is his one & only feature. Pastor has two other director credits, one of these being the rather quirky-titled The 624 Types Of Teachers (2025), which, according to IMDb, runs at three hours and fifteen minutes!
Stéphane runs at a neater/ more normal one hour and twenty minutes, and it’s certainly a wild & unpredictable ride- which moves between awkward/ embarrassed chuckles, more than a few WTH moments, and some father creepy/unhinged/puzzling reveals- though it also leaves more than a few things unanswered.
The film opens as the tight, curly-haired and full-of-himself director Timothée (Bastien Garcia) is filming his fourth short film. It’s shot in what seems to be a public park with two amateur actors, who aren’t really following his instructions. Seemingly, the film is some sort of FBI-focused action film- anyway, during one shot, a bald, moustachioed, and tubby middle-aged man wanders into the shot. This is Stéphane (Pastor), and he claims to be an effects man…. within no time he’s set up a large steel drum, letting off several rather unsafe-looking fiery explosions, knocking down both actors and shaking the camera.
The actors leave, and slowly but steadily, like a spider pulling a fly into his web, Stéphane manipulates himself into the arrogant but naïve director's life. Finding them moving from awkward sing-song drives, smashing up train stations, walks in the dark, onboard a boat, and staying at an island set mansion- that Stéphane claims he owns.
Stéphane starts off being somewhat odd/ quirky but soon escalates into more unhinged behaviour- like smashing up bins, shooting out a van's engine, trying to capture a wild horse with his bare hands, and random nighttime wanderings…and more creepy/ unsettling behaviour like getting Timothée to scream, being shifty about what rooms he can film in, and locking away the ‘actress’ he hires- in a locked/ lightless room overnight.
Both of the leads sell their parts well, but I think Pastor is the most impressive, as he well & truly throws himself into the role of the overbearing & odd Stéphane. And at points he clearly puts himself in general danger for his art- for example, the already mentioned trying to catch a horse with his bare hands.
I guess, as a film, Stéphane falls on the more cringe inducing comedy/ wonky buddy movie side of things- though as it progresses, the creepy-to-uneasy thriller elements start to appear, with the film moving towards its jaw on the floor/ slight puzzling end…oh and do stay tuned until after the credits for extra scenes.
On the extras side, we have a new commentary track from co-writer/directors Timothée Hochet & Lucas Pastor, which is in French with English subtitles. They start by talking about how actor Garcia- who played the director- had a great ability to improvise. They discuss how they debated on when/ how Stéphane would first appear and are pleased with what they decided. We find out the Stéphane character first appeared on a YouTube short, and how/ why they decided to do the full length. We get info about bit-part actors as they appear. We find out the first cut of the picture was very different & run over two hours. They discuss how they very much wanted the movie to be a balance of hot & cold, and funny & scary. Later on, they talk about when the film was first shown to an audience, why the Timothée character always had a large rucksack, and much more. All in all, an interesting enough director/ writer/ actor’s track.
Otherwise, we have eight never-before-seen deleted scenes (28.24) with optional commentary by co-writer/directors Timothée Hochet & Lucas Pastor. And two trailers.
I was rather taken by Stéphane, as I was expecting it to be just a straight French version of the Creep films/ TV series. Sure, you can see that as a jumping-off point, but Hochet & Pastor have very much created their own film here. If you enjoy where awkward comedy meets thrills and chills, it’s a must. And once again, hats off to Arrow for once again uncovering/ reissue a lesser-known genre film.