Night Fare 2015

Englishman Chris returns to Paris after abruptly leaving two years ago. He unexpectedly crosses paths with his ex-girlfriend, Ludivine, and his friend who is now dating her, Luc. At a party, Chris speaks with Ludivine, who reminds him of his sudden departure and others that she’s moved on. When Ludivine leaves early, she takes [Luc]’s car, leaving Chris feeling adrift. Upset, he also exits the gathering, and [Luc] follows, trying to coax him to join another party after a few drinks.

As they wander the night through Paris in a daze, Luc proposes stealing a car, but Chris rejects the idea and suggests taking a taxi instead. In the cab, Luc snorts cocaine, which only heightens Chris’s unease. The taxi driver remains silent throughout the ride, a unnerving, almost spectral presence that unsettles both of them. A quick detour to grab money from an ATM becomes a scramble of nerves and misfires as Luc dashes away, laughing. Chris, trying to salvage the night, apologetically leaves the cab and catches up with his friend.

What follows is a tense, increasingly dangerous chase. Luc reveals he’s carrying a large stash of cash and had refused to pay something he owed, which triggers the driver’s relentless pursuit. The taxi driver corners them across multiple streets, and their fear escalates until they reach an underground car park where a security guard confronts the driver. The guard’s harsh treatment of his dog provokes the driver to retaliate, beating the guard and rescuing the dog.

The driver resumes the chase, closing the distance with a single-minded ruthlessness that leaves Chris and Luc scrambling for safety. Desperate, they turn to Detox, a violent gang leader, explaining that the taxi driver has stolen the money they owe Detox. Detox, a figure of menace, only heightens the stakes when he spots the driver near his home and sets off with a sword in hand. In a brutal confrontation, the driver overpowers Detox, kills everyone inside the house except Chris and Luc, and sends them fleeing.

Panic finally drives Luc to dial the police, but what happens next is a nightmarish spiral. The driver lands another strike, and a gunfight of wits and endurance unfolds as the two men scramble through streets and parks, with an officer left gravely injured in the melee. In the aftermath, the driver’s presence casts a long, chilling shadow: the danger has become personal, and the friends realize they have few witnesses left to expose what the driver is capable of.

The truth about the past surfaces in a brutal confession: two years earlier, Chris and Luc had drunkenly harassed a homeless man, pouring alcohol on him as they mimed urinating, and when the man fought back, they beat him, accidentally igniting him and causing his death. Confronted with the consequences of their own selfishness, they fear the driver’s motive might be retribution for that moment. A call from Ludivine arrives, revealing the driver has kidnapped her and taken her to a factory. Luc considers leaving her, but Chris refuses to abandon her.

Chris breaks through and rescues Ludivine, only to be overpowered again by the driver. Luc arrives to help, but the driver’s strength proves overwhelming for both of them. The driver’s silent demand is chilling: he frees Ludivine but insists that Luc accompany him. Believing his life will end, Luc steps into a taxi that will take him somewhere unknown. In a startling turn, the driver presents Luc with a manuscript-like book detailing the history of a secret society of vigilantes who seek to reform violent lives. Struck by the realization that he, too, has led a selfish, violent life, Luc agrees to join the driver’s clandestine circle.

Under the driver’s rigorous, almost ritual training, Luc becomes a trainee in a brutal, shadowy world. The story closes on a stark moral question: after being dropped off at the site of a violent mugging, Luc is left to determine whether he will intervene or walk away, embodying the very change the driver’s society seeks to cultivate. The night’s events ripple outward, leaving Chris, Ludivine, and Luc forever marked by fear, guilt, and the strange allure of a secret order that promises absolution through atonement.