"Unusual Suspect" the Advertising Film from Pavillon France Thought up by LGM&co to Give You Big Thrills

May. 02, 2023

A disturbing film to draw attention

The French fishing sector has been experiencing a succession of unprecedented crises over the last three years: the consequences of Brexit, the soaring rise in energy costs, increasingly restrictive regulations, consumers distancing themselves from the fish counter, largely due to inflation...

To overcome these difficulties and stand against these cruel winds, PAVILLON FRANCE, the brand of French fishing products, fully realises the necessity of reviving consumers’ interest in these products, which are essential to our health and genuine pillars of our food sovereignty.

This is the purpose and the brief for this new film: an electro-shock, even if it means shocking the audience, to make the French, once again, want to buy and cook more seafood produce.

"You could do it, too."

Drawing inspiration from some of the greatest references in cinema, including Jeffrey Dahmer, The Silence of the Lambs, Zodiac and The Usual Suspects, the film imagined by LGM&co raises red herrings on the tracks of a psychopathic serial killer, right up to the final reveal, which is both unexpected and delicious.

With the direction of Björn Rühmann, author of the mythical film "The Wind" (rewarded at Cannes Lions and Clio Awards), the film produced by Solab borrows all the codes of the genre one by one to plunge the viewer into a crescendo of unease. A squeaky trolley in a nearly deserted supermarket, a cashier with a slightly too insistent look in her eyes, a suburban bungalow that is almost too ordinary not to become sinister, very Dexter-esque latex gloves... every shot in the film is designed to build disquiet and anxiety.

Enter the cook!

Attention to detail has been carried all the way through to the design of the culinary shots at the end of the film, which revisit the imposed and often tedious approach to food imagery.

By placing the camera on the handle of a knife, opting for very close-up shots, with the camera always in motion, the final gourmet sequence contributes to the film’s ambition of showing seafood from a new angle in order to change the way French people view it. No, seafood produce is not dull, or boring, or complicated to cook – preparing it is in fact a unique, joyful and delicious experience.

German-born Bjorn Ruhmann is a rare figure in the world of advertising. His work is uncategorisable but has a distinctly recognisable voice. He’s known for his beguiling and quirky Germanic sense of humour, unforgettable characters, and wholly unique story-worlds.

He said:

“It’d been a long time since I’d received such an exciting script, and so detailed! I understood right away that the creators saw their film clearly playing in their minds, and the good news was that I had the very same vision! I love genre films, so I was really into it! We had great fun ticking all the boxes of the thriller – the car, the house, the casting, even the weather was oppressive! We spent two long days shooting, but between our lead actor, Solab’s team and the PAVILLON FRANCE agency, we all wanted the same film, so we were really efficient! I am super pleased with the result and I’m dying to see the first reactions!” 

 

Director of photography, Joe Douglas said:

"When Björn called me to tell me about the project, I didn’t know if he was talking about an advert or a short, a real treat for a DOP, as lighting is so important in creating the oppressive and ambiguous atmosphere of the film! And between the supermarket shots, those in the house and the food shots, not to mention the outside shots, a different approach to lighting was required every time, but always to summon the same atmosphere, it was one hell of a challenge!"

 

Helene Gratzmüller and Margaux Simoen, the film’s screenwriters and artistic directors and partners of the agency, said:

"We never cook, it’s a simple as that. Let alone fish. The most we ever have is shrimp, pre-cooked of course. So when our scheduler told us that we needed to encourage people to prepare fish at home, we were very (too) quick to think of all the negative aspects. We had a hard time imagining how we could avoid the elephant in the room: cooking fish is pretty unnerving. It’s ugly, it stinks (seriously) and it’s almost unmanageable, it gets everywhere, it squirts and oozes. But hey, let’s chill, it’s not exactly fatal either. Well... On the way home one night, it must have been the creepy atmosphere of the empty streets that inspired us. But very quickly, after talking about the film, we moved on to other things. It’s too much, nobody will buy into it. But we hadn’t counted on our Creative Director, Nicolas, who against all odds was hooked from the start. So there we were on our 3^rd film, with 2 months to co-create it with Björn and Solab. It was an honour to work with this director, who is no other than the author of the epitome of the "false lead": The Wind."

 

Caroline Morlot, PAVILLON FRANCE said:

"At PAVILLON FRANCE, we have been working with the LGM&co agency for 6 years now. And since 2017, we have endeavoured to capture the attention of the French public to promote our messages and shine a light on all the actors in the industry (short films, writing a novella, XXL displays, etc.). And this has been successful, because the brand has become the most well-known in the sector! This year, we have once more decided to shake up conventions and make a play on the negative preconceptions that consumers have towards seafood produce (especially difficulties in preparing it) thanks to this incredibly original creation. Our ultimate goal is to (again) rouse the desire of the French population to consume delicious French fishing produce."