Ron’s Review

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I may not be a fan of horror films, but I do like how the genre effectively shares commentary on the world, and its ills. That’s what Rich Flu does. The unfortunately-named Laura Palmer (Winstead)–yes, she suffers through Twin Peaks jokes–is a producer, wholly focused on work so she can give her daughter, Anna (Dixie Egerickx), a better life. Not that she has time for said daughter. Anna lives with her father, Laura’s soon-to-be-ex Tony (Rafe Spall), in another country. They live a modest life, while Laura lives in the centre of London, in more-than-comfortable wealth.

And this is just the start. Laura’s about to get a job opportunity that will transform her life in ways even she can’t imagine. We’re talking millions upon millions of dollars–not just rich, but elite. This would be a terrible time for a virus to start targeting the super-wealthy, wouldn’t it?

Before Laura knows it, rich people are dying like flies around her. Having just come into some money, where can she go? Worse, how does she protect her family if she could be targeted by the virus?

That doesn’t stop Laura from trying her level-best to get back to her daughter and searching for a way to keep their little family safe.

The production notes describe Rich Flu as a story about reverse migration. In our world, we’re used to seeing refugees fleeing war and devastation across the Middle East and North Africa to come to Europe. But in Rich Flu, North Africa becomes the safe haven denying entry to anyone European. It’s fascinating and quite surreal seeing the wretched refugee camp conditions with white inhabitants.

But that makes me wonder, who will see this film? And what message will they take from it? Having lived in North America for a short while now, all I can see is a lack of empathy. Are people who’ve had such a level of privilege that they can champion war and genocide in other countries truly empathise with Laura and her family in Rich Flu? Even though Laura and Tony look like them? These people aren’t moved by the images and videos of real people suffering on their social feeds. What is a fantastical film going to do?

And yet, I’m glad Rich Flu was made. It’s a film I couldn’t stop watching. The story builds and builds, and while I had a pretty good inkling as to what the film planned to say, I couldn’t help but tense up when things went from bad to worse for our protagonist. I was invested because the wealth disparity in 2026 is unbelievable. We have a trillionaire when people are starving. We need a film that calls out the disproportionate distribution of resources.

On to the film itself, the location shooting was incredible and made such a difference to the viewing experience. There’s a realistic feel to every scene because the backgrounds weren’t CGI. The cinematography throughout was breath-taking and claustrophobic, as needed by the story. However, I struggled with the scenes using steady-cam. They were too shaky for me and took me out of the film.

The story was a little choppy in parts; I’ll put that down to an overlong first Act that spent a bit too much time setting up the plot. While it was fascinating to learn the machinations behind Laura’s new job, it wasn’t as necessary as the scenes following the epidemic. As a result, the family scenes ended up getting curtailed.

But that being said, the story quite beautifully lays out Laura’s journey and her constant struggle with what she’s supposed to do–be a good parent and be anti-capitalist–and her latent desires–wealth accumulation. Which leads to an ending that I absolutely adored. Winstead is so fun to watch and manages to capture nuances in a character that could have become cliche and monotone.

I enjoyed this film. And at just about a tick over 90 minutes, this film breezes by. I hope that people watching it understand the message of the film and push for more change in our wealth disparities.

Mon’s Review

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I didn’t clock that Rich Flu was made by Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia Munitxa, the director of Netflix’s The Platform. Maybe that’s a good thing, because I may have been hesitant to watch the film. The Platform is intense with a clear socio-political message about the facade of wealth and power. He carries that same message into Rich Flu.

When the film starts off, you think you’ll be watching this workaholic, Laura (Winstead), who covets nothing but success at her job, to the detriment of her marriage to Tony (Rafe Spall) and her relationship with her daughter Anna (Dixie Egerickx). But, even if you have no idea who the creative team is, the clever writing suggests we’re in for more than just pitch meetings and workplace comeuppance.

While we navigate the frenetic life that Laura leads under the thumb of an eccentric boss played by Timothy Spall, we get hints that something’s not right in the world of the film. Deaths, crashes, panic, they’re taking over the world outside Laura’s periphery. Until the chaos comes for her.

Suddenly, everything that Laura’s ever wanted turns her life into a nightmare, and all she wants is to be back with her family, and to keep them safe.

Rich Flu is intense. The tension is palpable, and I couldn’t ease up watching this film till the credits rolled. We’re thrown into Laura’s world and we’re as lost as she is, discovering in slow and horrifying motion that the world has gone to hell. Laura’s got a personal battle to fight, but anarchy, as we know, is very scary even if it could, eventually, lead to better things.

The film is a reflection of today’s state of mind. The wealth gap has expanded exponentially over the past few years. We have a trillionaire, while people in the country(ies) that guy calls home are living in poverty. In the press notes for Rich Flu, director Gaztelu-Urrutia Munitxa talks about how society “values individual success as the ultimate goal, even when this implies insane competitiveness without the slightest empathy.”

This is at the core of this “dark fable”. The writing-directing team turns this ultimate achievement into a curse. Where wealth and power was once venerated, in Rich Flu, it’s a literal disease, and people are chased out because of it.

The film attempts to explore the refugee journey, but in reverse–what if wealthy, comfortable First-Worlders had to endure the suffering that we’re so used to ignoring at our own borders?

There’s such a rich dialogue in this film about the pathetic state of modern times. Without resorting to exposition or finger-waggling, we see the inequality and feel disgust towards the actions of the privileged. Our protagonist isn’t spared either.

Laura is a fascinating character. She’s given layers to be real and flawed, which absorbs you in the film even further. Winstead is so expressive, but plays her roles with great stoicism and restraint. She was captivating in this role. The supporting characters are all good as well, though they all have much smaller roles.

One thing I’m glad about–Rich Flu isn’t gory, or violent, or gross. The Platform is a striking film, brilliantly-made, but it just got too disturbing and distressing for me by the end. But I think that sanitization does the film a disservice. The impact of the core message isn’t that strong because the struggles are skipped over.

The first act was quite long, ekeing out a world and a possibility that’s not relevant to the film. Had the first two sequences been merged, we’d have had more time for Laura and the other characters to experience the chaos and then to explore the change in the social order. We sped through the last part, which was actually the more relevant and interesting part of this fable.

This also meant that, while we’re watching a metaphor for every rich person’s worst nightmare, the curtailed screentime means we lose sight of the fact that the scenes of horror and deprivation are realities for far too many peoples across the world. Gaztelu-Urrutia Munitxa calls this film a “social satire”, but the film was far too intense and not far enough removed from reality to do that genre justice.

This might be because four writers worked on the film, and they all had a lot of input, which thinned out some of the heavier material.

Despite all that, though, Rich Flu is a rich, intense tale of a world order turned upside down. It’s poignant and perfectly cautions against the wealth inequalities of our time. It should have spent a little more time diving into those aspects instead of indulging in a prolonged first act. But the story is hard-hitting, stressful, with good performances and striking cinematography that’ll keep you on edge throughout.