Corsican independence seen with finesse through the prism of a photojournalist

Little mentioned in cinema, the struggle of a section of the Corsican population for the independence of the island inhabits this portrait of a free woman.

Director Thierry de Peretti, accustomed to conflicting stories (Investigation into a state scandal) tackles the Corsican independence movement in a romantic light. He adapts In his image by Jérôme Ferrari, where a press photographer finds herself close to her activists, experiencing their struggle from the inside, while remaining distant from them through her job as an observer.

A double game, where love mixes with politics and commitment, with the determination of a woman to assert herself in her vocation. A film with several dimensions, In his image will be released in theaters on Wednesday, September 4, just as the Visa pour l’image festival in Perpignan, dedicated to photojournalism, has just opened on August 31.

Film about the desire of a young woman to make her place in press photography, employed at Corsica-Morning, In his image associates Antonia as a companion with a seasoned activist of the FLNC (Corsican National Liberation Front), on an island agitated by independence demands. We remember the regular returns at the time in all the press, of the attacks on the island and on the continent. They numbered in the dozens each year from 1979 to 2022.

Excellent subject that Thierry de Peretti takes in his expert hands, in a film sometimes bordering on reportage, but always in a dramatic vein. The director gives a very good title to his film since he personifies his heroine, creator of her photos, free and independent, in the image of the demands of the Corsicans of the FLNC. Solar film by its island light, In his image do not neglect the shadows of a movement that has now become twilight.

The film follows Antonia (Clara-Maria Laredo) at every stage of her evolution within the organization. From her arrival to Corsica-Morning to his presence at the scene of a settling of scores between nationalists on the terrace of a café. In the meantime, there will have been this meeting with Pascal, whose love at first sight predicts the gunshots that will mark their love.

An initiatory film for Antonia, it is also one for the viewer who learns about the ins and outs of a situation that was at the heart of the news at the time, less conclusive today. Thierry de Peretti does not take sides by remaining an observer. He films with hindsight the introspection of a marginal environment, political and ideological, but also armed. Carried by his subject, In his image does not put it on trial, but unfolds the map of the territory.

Gender : Drama
Director : Thierry de Peretti
Actors: Clara-Maria Laredo, Marc’Antonu Mozziconacci, Louis Starace
Country : France
Duration : 1h53
Exit : Wednesday September 4th 2024
Distributer : Pyramid Distribution
Synopsis: Fragments from the life of Antonia, a young photographer from Corsica-Morning in Ajaccio. His commitment, his friends, his loves are mixed with the major events of the political history of the island, from the 1980s to the dawn of the 21st century. It is the fresco of a generation.