Anna Novion’s new film immerses the viewer in an intimate investigation into the heart of mathematical research. A formula that works, carried by the actress Ella Rumpf.
If you’re allergic to math, don’t run away. Marguerite’s Theorem, the new feature film by Anna Novion which is released in theaters on Wednesday, November 1, is much more than a long, boring demonstration drowned in numbers. Erase from your memories the painful memories of Pythagoras and Thales, it could be that maths also reveals itself in an artistic and playful light.
By following the journey of a mathematics thesis student at Normal Sup, the film presented at the last Cannes Film Festival offers an in-depth foray into this very closed environment. From the fall to the rebirth of a researcher, from the intangible to the curved lines, the portrait of this student, played by the luminous Ella Rumpf, is a beautiful discovery full of emotions.
“The mathematician in slippers”
With a transparent face, a lowered forehead and a determined look, Marguerite has no time to have fun. As outdated as her first name, Marguerite only has onehis only obsession: presenting his thesis before the Normale Sup expert jury. Because Marguerite is brilliant, she has been working on Goldbach’s conjecture for three years, and even since her childhood. A mysterious pyramid that turns out to be one of the oldest unresolved problems of the number theory and mathematics.
Nicknamed by her peers the “mathematician in slippers”, Marguerite is, despite herself, the star of the lecture halls. The only girl in this essentially male environment, she intrigues as much as she impresses. “A donation”, as described by his mother (Clotilde Coureau) who is also the pride of his thesis director played by Jean-Pierre Darroussin, very apt in the role of mentor. When a journalist asked her about this crazy passion for mathematics, it was quite embarrassed with her hands that she replied: “I couldn’t live without it.” The framework is given, but the balance is fragile and the pressure is strong. The arrival of a new student as gifted as her (Julien Frison, from the Comédie-Française) will destabilize her. Everything changes during his presentation. An error shakes up all his certainties and the building collapses.
Math as a creative tool
Violent descent towards the abyss. Marguerite will have to deal with a register that is hitherto unknown to her. Not easy for this well-shaped head who sees everything from an arithmetic angle but who is not good at social or romantic relationships. The actress Ella Rumpf, discovered in Severe by Julie Ducourneau, aptly takes on a completely different register. Much gentler in appearance but inside it is an incessant bubbling that borders on madness. His thesis director repeats to him that‘”we must create, take a step aside to make mathematics evolve”…
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It is by accepting her fall and error that the student will encounter other worlds very far from her own. First there is Noa, her roommate, superb Sonia Bonny who illuminates the image with her sunny sensuality, Mahjong players in a back shop in the Chinese quarter of Paris, evenings in a nightclub, a meeting with a unknown.
Little by little, Marguerite returns to the world. His posture straightens, his eyes light up with other issues than bringing order to the infinite. Creation is underway and Anna Novion’s direction underlines this. Initially very geometric, the frame lights up as Marguerite blossoms. “I realized that there was a real parallel to be drawn between mathematics and artistic creation. What connects mathematics and achievement is the risk and the passion which means that we are sometimes ready to work for years without knowing if our work will find an outcome. It’s a very personal film which evokes my relationship with creation”, confides the filmmaker. And oHe finds himself moved by a mathematical formula, a successful bet that almost makes you want to go back to school.
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The sheet
Gender : Drama
Director: Anna Novion
Actors: Ella Rumpf, Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Clotilde Courau, Julien Frison, Sonia Bonny
Country : France, Switzerland
Duration : 1h52
Exit : November 1st2023
Distributer : Pyramid Distribution
Synopsis: The future of Marguerite, a brilliant student in Mathematics at the ENS, seems clear. The only girl in her class, she is finishing a thesis which she must present in front of an audience of researchers. On the big day, an error shakes up all his certainties and the building collapses. Marguerite decides to leave everything to start again.