Maja is a maritime policeman in the Landes, in a seaside resort where nothing, or very little, happens. She has to retire early, which she dreads, but an event will call everything into question: the presence of a killer shark in the bay that she will decide to hunt down.
This first French film with the presence of a shark is obviously inspired by Sea teeth, Steven Spielberg’s cult film released in 1976, with direct or more subtle quotes. The young directors Zoran and Ludovic Boukherma, already authors of the successful and endearing Teddy, obviously wondered how to renew but also “Frenchify” the genre.
“What is certain is that it is not a parody. It is very important because, for us, a parody would be not to believe in the shark at all and to stay outside the story.”
Ludovic and Zoran Boukhermaat franceinfo
“We wanted to make a dramatic comedy in which we still believe in the shark, in which the genre sequences are real and we can really be afraidexplain the directors. We always ask ourselves the question of what to show of the monster because we have the feeling that we must delay as much as possible the moment when we show it. We tell ourselves that if we show it too much, and too soon, we risk disappointing later. We like the idea of retaining the image, to show something that will be quite limited but impactful in this writing.”
As for Teddy, Year of the Shark a mix of burlesque and borrowings from horror films, without forgetting a social fiber. A very local touch too, with local non-professional actors with accents of rigor and movie mugs. On the poster, a trio of actors accustomed to mainstream comedies. There is Marina Foïs in the role of Maja, always with her ability to switch from comedy to drama in the blink of an eye, Kad Merad who plays her very loving and somewhat naive husband, very good in this more sober and touching, and Jean-Pascal Zadi who, after Michel Hazanivicius (Cut) and before Quentin Dupieux (Smoking makes you cough), imposes his irresistible awkwardness as a great dadais in more and more films: “I try to bring back other things as well. It was a very physical role, I had to jump in the water to fight against the shark, for example. I obviously know that people come looking for a nature in me, who is there. They come to get it but there are other things that I do, that I bring in addition too.
With his particular and sometimes contemplative style, The Year of the Shark should probably divide the spectators a little. But this mix of original and fresh genres is the touch of the Boukherma brothers.