In a disadvantaged city in the north of France, the daily routine is suddenly turned upside down by the arrival of a film crew. The social film that Gabriel, the director and screenwriter, intends to shoot there, will be played by local non-professionals: Lily, Maylis, Jessy and Ryan, children and adolescents variously traumatized or from difficult living environments.
Community groups are wondering: does Gabriel intend to indulge in a caricatural miserabilist? Beyond this “film within the film”, filmmakers Lise Akoka and Romane Guéret deconstruct this type of cinema. Winner of the Un certain regard prize at Cannes, The worst further examines the so-called notion of cast savage “.
This is also how the two collaborators met, for which this is their first feature film: by looking for non-professional children to play in a film, as they explained to us in an interview last week.
Hence the acuteness of the look they cast on this practice which willingly gives excellent results on screen, but which, behind the scenes, can have unfortunate repercussions in the lives of young elected officials. Even independent, even on a low budget, cinema makes people dream.
With their respective existential baggage, Lily, Maylis, Jessy and Ryan have so far hardly had the luxury of extravagant hopes. And here they are immersed overnight in a universe – a bubble – where everything seems possible! Disappointments in sight?
Maybe yes, maybe no.
Inevitably, some will return to their routine, but others, like the gifted Lily, seem to have a bright future in the seventh art. In a fascinating game of mirrors, the same went for the interpreter of this touching character, Mallory Wanecque: after being nominated for the César for female revelation, she chained two other films. No surprise there: she has as much presence as talent. Its magnetism bursts the screen.
His three young partners are also excellent; often frankly moving.
A human experience
It must be said that the four scores, purposely contrasted, are very well written. In the interview mentioned, Lise Akoka and Romane Guéret explained in this respect that they had written the screenplay, and above all created the characters, based on the testimonies collected during the first three years of the project’s conception, which they spent meeting children .
The film gains in authenticity. However, the more it rings true, the more it upsets. Notice that there is humor, especially through the character of the director, “tormented as it should be”.
As for the concerns of the co-directors about this cinema “which feeds on reality” without necessarily always giving in return, or too little, or badly, they manifest themselves organically in the story. No didacticism or preaching here.
In fact, Lise Akoka and Romane Guéret seem more inclined to meditate on the complex questions they pose than to offer answers that risk being simplistic.
What their film is never, simplistic.
Dense on the psychological front, transparent in ethical matters and confusing – it’s a compliment – on the artistic side, The worst is a human and cinematographic experience that must be lived until the very last shot.