(Berlin) Two days before the announcement of the winners, Denis Côté launched A summer like this, a singular film, very successful, where we discuss female sexuality. Also in the running for the Golden Bear, a Spanish feature film shot in French, inspired by the true story of a couple who survived the Bataclan massacre in Paris.
Posted at 6:00 a.m.
The end of Monday evening was devoted to the gala screening ofA summer like this, the new film by Denis Côté, presented in official competition. For his fourth walk on the red carpet of the Berlinale Palast in less than 10 years, the Quebec filmmaker, like a long-distance captain, was flanked this time by the actresses and the actor who carry this feature film at arm’s length: Larissa Corriveau, Aude Mathieu, Laure Giappiconi, Anne Ratte Polle and Samir Guesmi. All these beautiful people also lent themselves to the game of the press conference a few hours earlier, in a more sparse room than usual because of health restrictions. Not quite the excitement of the big days, to tell the truth.
PHOTO CHRISTIAN MANG, REUTERS
Like a long-term captain, Denis Côté walked the Berlinale Palast red carpet for the fourth time thanks to the selection of his film A summer like this in official competition.
Born first of all from a questioning about the absence of films frankly dealing with sexuality in Quebec cinema, A summer like this then evolved into a more ambitious project. Denis Côté has indeed deepened his reflection by documenting the evolution of the word “nymphomaniac” through the ages, always arriving at the same conclusion: this word contains a large part of male judgment on female sexual desire. Hence the idea of exploring this theme seriously.
“But I know very well that I am a 48-year-old white man who arrives with his heterosexual privileges,” he told reporters. That’s why I shielded myself from female gazes during the entire process of writing and making the film. Now that it’s done, I’m also interested in the men’s point of view, of course, but at the time of the creation process, I only showed what I was doing to women. »
Responsibility and kindness
His wish ? Talking about female sexuality with responsibility and benevolence, without falling into a kind of eroticization of images that would have derailed everything. A sexologist assisted him throughout the creation process. Denis Côté also this time called on an editor (Dounia Sichov), just to ensure that a feminine gaze is always on the lookout. To the director of photography, François Messier-Rheault, the filmmaker gave a very precise directive: “If you are the least bit excited by what we are filming, tell me right away. That’s really not the point! »
PHOTO CHRISTIAN MANG, REUTERS
Aude Mathieu and Larissa Corriveau on the Berlinale Palast red carpet, shortly before the presentation ofA summer like thisa film by Denis Côté
Denis Côté also told how Laure Giappiconi came to see him one day, pointing out to him that, very precisely in a scene, you could feel that it was the result of a man’s vision. “I modified it accordingly because Laure was able to make me see things in this scene that I hadn’t noticed, despite all my attention. It is impossible to make such a film based on certainties,” he added.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY MAISON 4:3
Aude Mathieu and Laure Giappiconi in A summer like thisa film by Denis Côté
In fact, the winner of the most innovative film award in 2013, thanks to Vic+Flo saw a bearembarked on a project that he wished to be ethically irreproachable, but in which he “was not embarrassed by anything” either.
“I engaged in a sort of balancing act and I am not looking for controversy. My territory is human beings. And this film, a celebration of all our sexualities. »
Back to the Bataclan
Also in the running for the Golden Bear, One year, one night (One Year, One Night is the international title) is an entirely Spanish production, shot in French in Paris. This film by Isaki Lacuesta (Between back waters) is directly inspired by the story of Ramón Gonzalez, surviving with his French lover the killing that took place at the Bataclan in Paris on November 13, 2015.
The story of course evokes the tragic event – and the infernal anguish experienced by those who were there -, but it focuses more on the consequences that such a trauma can have on individuals, particularly when it is acts of a couple. Played by Nahuel Pérez Biscayart and Noémie Merlant, Ramón and Céline experienced the months following the shooting very differently.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY BERLINALE
Noémie Merlant in One year, one night (One Year, One Night). Isaki Lacuesta’s film is in the running for the Golden Bear at the Berlinale.
“That’s what interested me,” said director Lacuesta Monday during a press conference held before the official screening of his film. When I met them, I immediately felt that they had experienced this event as a couple in a very different way. “They weren’t together at the time of the shooting and they didn’t know if the other was alive. Their story is one on which, in the end, little follow-up is done. Hence the idea of also talking about the year after. »
The scenes of the shooting are thus integrated into the story as flashbacks, just to shed better light on the ordeals that the protagonists must now go through.
“We had to stay true to the facts, but we established a structure that allows us to borrow more of Ramón’s point of view first, then Celine’s second. We also wondered a lot about the representation of violence. In our view, it was necessary to plunge the spectator into the heart of the event, without falling into excess or complacency. We took a realistic approach, without falling into horror or seeing the terrorists. »
This approach proves to be extremely effective, and also gives the two main actors the opportunity to deliver vibrant performances.