Terms like ‘sweet,’ ‘cute,’ or ‘wholesome’ are certainly not what you usually associate with a film that has a title like Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person. But that’s exactly the case with Canadian director Ariane Louis-Seize’s debut feature. In many ways, it can be termed a rather demure cousin of Ana Lily Amirpour’s groundbreaking A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, which came almost a decade ago, and that’s not exactly a bad thing. The film is a profound example of how divisive the vampire genre (should I ask for a patent for coining the term?) can be. It’s hard not to adore Humanist Vampire… (that’s what I’m calling it from now on) given how genuinely charming and funny it is. The narrative is a straightforward affair with a little bit of ambiguity in the end. But I hope to clear all your doubts over this article.
Spoilers Ahead
What Happens in the Movie?
Very young vampire Sasha has a big issue—she can’t bring herself to kill human beings. According to the doctor, she has this unique compassion trigger that stops her from doing the necessary. However, that’s not at all a problem for her father, Aurelien, who’s absolutely against the idea of his daughter doing anything that doesn’t come naturally to her. Unlike Aurelien, her mother Georgette, aunt Victorine, and sassy cousin Denise are not too happy about it. Years pass by, but Sasha’s situation doesn’t change. Her love for music grows as she continues to excel as a pianist. But she can’t get her own food due to her inability to kill. Now (almost) a young adult (sixty-eight in vampire years though), Sasha finds it hard to reason with her family members thanks to her problem. Aurelien is still on her side, but Georgette and the rest want Sasha to do something about it. They have been sharing the blood they get all these years, but now they are at their wits end. As a result, everyone collectively decides that Sasha should live with Denise—who now has a place of her own—in order to learn things the hard way. Aurelien is skeptical, but he’s also concerned about Sasha’s future when he won’t be around (yeah, vampires are not immortal in this world).
Why Did Paul Want to kill himself?
Paul is the human to Sasha’s vampire in this tale. I can simply get away with saying it is ‘life’ that troubles Paul, but I do owe you a detailed breakdown of that. Paul is the character that you’ve seen in so many indie dramas or comedies—a shy high school student with the kindest of hearts who gets bullied by the jocks. Here, his bully, Henry, also happens to be his co-worker, as both of them work the same part-time job. Paul and Sasha meet for the first time when he’s just about to jump from the roof at work. In the end he doesn’t, but somehow he gets injured, and seeing Paul’s blood does something to Sasha that has never happened before—her fangs finally come out.
Pretty soon, they’re in a support group together—and then in Sasha’s bedroom. Paul doesn’t mind dying, and Sasha can finally do her deed. Denise looks excited, and so does JP—a man she had to turn—all thanks to Sasha messing up badly in a crucial situation. JP does seem to be game for it though. It’s admirable how Humanist Vampire… chooses to leave the part where a character explains something to another character to the audience’s imagination. Everything is realized and assumed here, like Paul knowing all about Sasha and her needs.
Why can’t Sasha kill Paul?
Even though Paul has given the all-important consent to her, Sasha can’t do it without making him fulfill his final wish. I’m sure other vampires (especially Denise) wouldn’t think of such pointless things and devour the human right away, but Sasha is the humanist vampire, as the title of the movie suggests. Sadly, Paul is so done with life that he doesn’t even have a final wish. But since Sasha can’t go ahead without one, Paul does come up with one—he wants to tear down Henry.
And so they set out to do just that, but Paul can’t muster the courage to do it. He needs some practice before. So he goes on to heckle some of his other bullies, and also the school principal, who entertained the thought of Paul turning into a murderer just because he killed a bat by accident. Now ready to give Henry his due, Paul heads to his workplace. A party is going on there. The moment Henry and his entourage see Paul, they get into their bully mode. But instead of what he originally planned to do, Paul surprises everyone, including Sasha, by biting hard into Henry’s hand. By the time Henry manages to fully process the absurdity of the situation, Paul and Sasha are gone. They can’t go far though, as Sasha faints out of hunger and Paul has no other choice but to cut himself and feed her.
Shortly after, we find Paul and Sasha sitting on a bench at a park. He’s trying to explain that what he did was mostly on a whim, while she is perplexed. Paul’s final wish still remains unfinished business, but he gets another crack at that, as Henry has followed them here for his revenge. Immediately, Henry pounces in Paul and starts beating him black and blue, while one of his minions holds Sasha back. But then something magical happens. The streetlight starts to flicker (that’s also a thing in this world whenever the vampire sense is tickled), the fangs come out, and the humanist vampire overpowers the bullies in no time. While everyone else runs away, Henry fails to do so, which leads to him seeing Sasha’s wrath and ultimately, a death that he deserved. But Sasha being Sasha, she regrets it immediately and asks Paul to go away. He is willing to clean up the mess, but she is not going to allow it. So Paul leaves, and Sasha brings in the best vampire for this kind of thing—Denise. Together, they handle things by safely burying Henry. But while at it, Denise and Sasha have an argument over killing Paul, now that he knows so much about them. Denise is obviously the one who wants to eradicate Paul, but Sasha, on the other hand, is never going to let that happen. She wouldn’t even mind smacking her cousin with a shovel and knocking her out for even entertaining the thought of killing Paul.
Does Sasha turn Paul into a vampire?
Fearing her cousin might actually kill Paul, Sasha swoops him out of his home and takes him to a motel. Considering the situation, Paul suggests that the best course of action would be to turn him into a vampire. It will neutralize most of the threats, including Denise. There is also the factor of Sasha’s fangs only coming when Paul is in genuine danger, which is this movie’s way of saying these two are in love with each other. The only person Paul is going to leave behind is his mother, Sandrine, but he believes she would understand.
Thanks to Paul managing to convince her well enough, Sasha decides to try it out by taking a bite of his neck (quite literally). Paul’s life as a human ends instantly, but he doesn’t wake up. Sasha waits anxiously, but he still doesn’t show any sign of waking up—other than ominously gasping a few times. Scared and confused, Sasha calls her family, including Denise, to her aid. In what I thought to be the most hilarious moment of Humanist Vampire… the vampire family discusses and argues over adding a new one to their kin. Aunt Victorine floats the idea that they can still kill Paul and even asks JP to prove his worth by running a stake through the boy’s heart. But Paul can’t be harmed as long as Sasha is there to protect him. So in the end, Victorine decides to be the savior—by feeding Paul from her own supply. She is not heartless after all, and neither is Denise, who chips in as well. Paul is brought back to (a really long) life, and everyone is happy.
Quite often, a movie like Humanist Vampire… messes up the ending, but this one leaves us with a fitting epilogue instead. We see Sasha and Paul walking into the hospital, where Paul’s mother (who’s a nurse) has arranged something for them. They get to drain some blood from a very old patient in exchange for a personalized concert where Sasha plays the piano. For a humanist vampire like Sasha, this is clearly a dream come true. She doesn’t have to kill anymore. And she is also going to have freshly turned vampire Paul by her side for eternity. If this doesn’t feel wholesome to you, then what does?