Meanwhile on Earth

2024 1h 27m FR

😐

6.2

MID

★6.2TMDB · 65

Science FictionAdventureDrama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Siblings Elsa and Franck used to be close, but everything changed when Franck’s space mission went awry. Three years have passed since his mysterious disappearance, and 23-year-old Elsa is having trouble moving on with her life. One day, an unidentified life form makes contact, offering to bring her big brother back to Earth. But there's a price to pay...

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

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Cast

Megan Northam
Elsa
Dimitri Doré
La Voix (voice)
Sébastien Pouderoux
Voix de Franck (voice)
Catherine Salée
Annick
Sam Louwyck
Daniel
Roman Williams
Vincent
Sofia Lesaffre
Audrey
Nicolas Avinée
Augustin

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Jérémy Clapin
Writers: Jérémy Clapin
Languages: French
Countries: France, Belgium

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

87 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 2 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: France, Belgium.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Jérémy Clapin, shot by Robrecht Heyvaert. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Dan Levy. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Jean-Christophe Bouzy shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Megan Northam and Dimitri Doré and Sébastien Pouderoux carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt21247132 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Jérémy Clapin directs. Robrecht Heyvaert behind the camera. Dan Levy scores. Jean-Christophe Bouzy cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in France, Belgium. Dialogue in French.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

187 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
2Released 2 years ago.
3International production across 2 countries: France, Belgium.
4Directed by Jérémy Clapin, shot by Robrecht Heyvaert. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Dan Levy. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Jean-Christophe Bouzy shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Megan Northam and Dimitri Doré and Sébastien Pouderoux carry the top of the cast.
8IMDB entry: tt21247132 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Only 65 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Cinematography: Robrecht Heyvaert
Original score: Dan Levy
Editing: Jean-Christophe Bouzy
Production design: Marion Burger
Makeup / hair: Alice Robert
Runtime: 87 min · 1h 27m
Status: Released
Box office: $128,746
Original language: FR
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Meanwhile on Earth (2024)

Also by

Jérémy Clapin

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

Brent Marchant2025-02-06
★ 5/10
It’s regrettable when a filmmaker’s reach exceeds his or her grasp. Such is the case, unfortunately, in writer-director Jérémy Clapin’s second feature outing, an ambitious but failed attempt at making a profound statement about the pain of loss and efforts to overcome it when an opportunity presents itself. The film follows the mysterious disappearance of astronaut Franck Martens (Sébastien Pouderoux) while on a seemingly routine space mission, leaving behind his grieving family, most notably his younger sister, Elsa (Megan Northam). She misses her brother terribly but is astounded one evening when she inexplicably appears to be able to communicate with him telepathically. No sooner does she resume contact with him, however, when he disappears again, but this time his voice is supplanted by that of a mysterious alien entity (Dimitri Doré), who says that Franck can be returned home but for a price – the securing of five human hosts for the entity and four colleagues to enable them to come to Earth. Elsa is thus thrust into a moral dilemma: How can she bring about her brother’s return while willfully subjecting five innocent individuals to this kind of involuntary abduction? Who should she choose for such a fate? And is this kind of ransom too high a price to pay? These are intriguing questions, a sound basis for a thoughtful morality play. Sadly, however, the execution of this story is clumsily handled. The filmmaker serves up a story that awkwardly seeks to blend science fiction, horror, psychological drama and metaphysics in a single vehicle, one whose narrative plays more like a collection of concept notes than even a first draft of a working script. The result is a disjointed mix of literal, metaphorical and symbolic themes and imagery, including both animation and live action, that lends itself more to inscrutable ambiguity than meaningful clarity. Perhaps this could have been rectified with a longer runtime to yield more extensive and more cohesive development, but its scant 1:23:00 runtime makes the picture feel rushed and somewhat hurriedly patched together, almost as if the creators tried to incorporate whatever elements they could before the production funding ran out. It’s a shame that this project has turned out as it has, given that it seems to stem from noble intents. However, as it stands now, this is more muddle than insight, a film that falls far short of its lofty, high-minded potential.

Production companies