“Le Grand Chariot”, a film about the difficulty of perpetuating the legacy of a family of puppeteers

Small hand-painted heads move above a wooden panel. They come to life thanks to the thumbs, index and middle fingers of the puppeteers who support them. The little arms are waving, the voices are too high or too low. The Big Cart, it is this puppet theater, founded by a father (Aurélien Recoing), in which his children (Louis, Esther and Lena Garrel) play. They bring this art to life, to the delight of the children who laugh heartily at the absurdities of Polichinelle.

Director Philippe Garrel takes an interest in a fascinating, often forgotten, age-old profession and shows its difficulties. An unprofitable business, but above all a family business which is starting to be oppressive. Louis begins to get tired, loses the meaning of this profession and wants to become an actor. The grandmother who sews the puppet costumes begins to lose her memory.

Disjointed puppets

Philippe Garrel plays with wide shots of life so realistic that we sometimes have the impression of being in a documentary. The scenes of family dinners follow one another with friendly moments between grandmother and little girl. But the director of The Inner Scar gets lost with stories that take precedence over the succession of the puppet theater, the real subject of the film. Without the father, the keystone of the family theater, what is left? The degenerative illness of the grandmother worries and the journey of Louis who abandons puppets for comedy questions.

Above all, it is the life of Pieter, painter and friend of Louis, played by Damien Mongin, which takes all the spotlight even though his face does not even appear on the film poster. He overshadows the Garrel family with his character as a penniless, blocked and misunderstood artist. His decline covers that of the Garrel sisters, alone to keep the puppet theater afloat. ” Not everyone was lucky enough to have a family like yours.”, says Pieter to Louis when he tells him about his years as a struggling artist, sleeping in train stations. Louis Garrel also delivers a rather flat performance. Few emotions show on his face and his performance is so nonchalant that it comes across as a lack of investment.

Philippe Garrel brings together additional stories that deserve separate films. This makes his film disjointed. We quickly get lost, we don’t always understand the connection between these stories and the puppeteer’s profession. A missed opportunity.

The director Philippe Garrel is also accused by five actresses who testified on the Mediapart site on August 30 of attempts at non-consensual kisses and sexual propositions during professional meetings, accusations that the 75-year-old director minimizes. while apologizing. “No complaints have been filed to date”specified Mediapart, according to which some of these facts are “likely to be classified as sexual assault or attempted sexual assault”.

The sheet

Gender : Drama
Director: Philippe Garrel
Actors: With Louis Garrel, Damien Mongin, Esther Garrell, Lena Garrel
Country : France, Switzerland
Duration : 1h35 min
Exit : September 13, 2023
Distributer : Ad Vitam

Synopsis : The Grand Chariot is a constellation of stars. It is also a puppet theater. It’s the story of a family of puppeteers, a brother, Louis and his two sisters, Martha and Lena, their father who runs the troupe and the grandmother who made the dolls. Together, they form a company and perform puppet shows. One day, during a performance, the father dies of a stroke, leaving his children alone.