Cinema. "In the Days to Come": Bastien Bouillon is disturbing in this film about domestic violence

Bastien Bouillon is undoubtedly a great actor, recognized today as one of the most subtle of his generation. A shadowy actor who has stepped into the limelight, he is capable of all dualities: by turns radiant and dark, fragile and unwavering. A chameleon-like actor, capable of all metamorphoses, always with a disturbing accuracy.

Bastien Bouillon is 40 years old, already 17 years into his career, and around sixty films and series behind him. He had to wait a long time for recognition from the public and the cinema. 2023, and his César for Best Young Actor for The Night of the 12th by Dominik Moll. At almost 38, then, it was time. Still. Since then, he has been very prominent, and the plasticity of his acting, his dramatic elasticity, are better and better and more and more served, by leading roles, finally. This year alone, he is appearing in four films , like four variations, four faces, and as many possibilities of acting.

In Aux jours qui venir , a taut and tense feminist drama, her natural sweetness, her calm voice, her soothing charm, serve a latent violence that is all the more disturbing. In a sun-drenched Nice, the scene of a dull threat, Laura, a thirty-something broken by a toxic relationship, raises her daughter alone, while the new partner of the little girl's father discovers in turn that he is a predator. It is Joachim, a familiar and ambivalent figure, a loving father, an ogre lover perhaps - you never really know. This is Bastien Bouillon's strength: sliding from one register to another, blurring the lines, sowing confusion, like a manipulative monster, full of contradictions.

Opposite Zita Hanrot and Alexia Chardard, whose vibrant performances evoke resilience and pain, without excess, Bastien Bouillon nuances a complex antagonist, consumed by his own flaws. "He is toxic, to others as well as to himself," he confides, and this phrase reflects his interpretation. He doesn't play the threat; he embodies it, like his own enemy, with a subterranean restraint that amplifies the terror.

In the days to come , with great mastery in his portrayal of characters and in the setting up of oppressive situations, he excels in dissecting the dynamics of power, control and manipulation. Bastien Bouillon, at his center, is a dramatic magnet: he attracts and repels, fascinates and worries.

In the Days to Come by Nathalie Najem, in theaters this Wednesday, July 23. Running time: 1 hour 40 minutes.