Das Ende ist erst der Anfang (The First The Last, Les premieres les demiers)
Belgium/France 2015

Opening 11 May 2017

Directed by: Bouli Lanners
Writing credits: Bouli Lanners
Principal actors: Albert Dupontel, Bouli Lanners, Suzanne Clément, David Murgia, Philippe Rebbot

Cochise (Dupontel) and Gilou (Lanners) work as bounty hunters, this time for a gangster who desperately needs to retrieve his mobile phone. They drive in their truck on the lookout for Willy (Murgia), who is running away with Esther (Broutin); both are handicapped in different ways. Supposedly, Willy has this phone, which possibly contains evidence of an incriminating crime. Thus we have a road movie as Cochise and Gilou drive through the wide country side on the search for this couple. There are strange encounters along the way such as a man, who claims to be Jesus (Rebbot), a priest, a mummy in a sleeping bag, roughnecks from a nearby warehouse, etc. 

The film is especially successful, because the action is unpredictable; there are surprises at every turn. The beautiful scenery with lots of sky is similar to many cowboy films set in the Wild West. Here, though, the site is an area in France called Beauce. According to the film makers, “the themes of the film are friendship, the end of the world, freedom and love.” That’s true, but there are so many small details at every step, that so-called overall themes are relatively unimportant. The real development is between Cochise and Gilou as they change from rough characters into someone we would love to meet and spend time with. Much credit goes to Bouli Lanners, who not only came up with the concept and wrote the screen play, but directed and played a main role. This showed at the 2016 Berlinale Film Festival under the title The First The Last. (Becky Tan)