AllMovie

An artist whose eyesight was damaged by the ruling despotic regime finds his sons torn in two opposing directions by the powers that be in Haute Tension director Alexandre Aja's ambitious feature debut. In the future, a dictatorial government has banished any and all political opposition by relentlessly silencing anyone who would dare to contradict them. Of course in a world where open debate is a crime punishable by death, art and music have been almost completely eradicated. Aaron (Pierre Vaneck) is a bartender who made his living as an artist. When government drones caught him painting, Aaron was forced to endure an operation that left him with the ability to see only in monochrome. Politically, Aaron's sons Theo (Stanislas Merar) and Laurence (Wadek Stanczak) couldn't be more different. While Laurence has devoted his entire life to enforcing the government line, Theo follows in his father's defiant footsteps by relentlessly painting every public surface he can find. When Theo hits the streets with like-minded rebel Elia (Marion Cottillard) and gradually begins falling in love with the graffiti-painting beauty, the stage is set for a troubling clash with the authoritarian powers that be.