Laurent Cantet in the fight against “the reduction of thought” on social networks

“This character interested me because I found myself facing an enigma”explains director Laurent Cantet, guest of franceinfo on Wednesday February 2 to present his latest film, Arthur Rambo. He was inspired by the Mehdi Meklat affair, this young author caught up in 2017 by his old homophobic, sexist, racist, anti-Semitic tweets.

“These kind of characters have always interested mecontinues Laurent Cantet, citing his previous films as The timetable Where Human ressources, first because they are fascinating to observe from a dramatic point of view, but also because they are aware of their fragility. The big question we all face is our place in the world.”

The film is also an opportunity to point the finger at how social networks have imposed themselves in our lives, for better perhaps but especially for worse. Laurent Cantet denounces “the brilliance, to the violence of social networks and of the time. That’s why I wanted to display tweets on the screen, in the film, and that very quickly we no longer have time to read them. They come to parasitize our thoughts, our lives, with great blows of slogans, punchlines… which are a reduction of thought.”