Magnetics | Like a little end of the world ★★★

In the greyness of the early 1980s, when France had just elected François Mitterrand, Philippe was trying to find his way between the affection he had for an out-of-control brother, his military service in West Berlin and the freedom he he finds a pirate radio station to run. His love for Marianne, the girlfriend of his eldest, scrambles the airwaves as much as it shows him the path to take.

Alexandre Vigneault
The Press

Vincent Maël Cardona made a remarkable entry into French cinema. His film Magnetic, a reference to cassettes, a fashionable format in the 1980s, was awarded at the Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes and at the Césars gala, where it won the prize for best first film. Its main actor, Thimotée Robart, was also honored with the Lumières award for best male hope, in addition to being nominated in the same category at the Césars.

These accolades inevitably raise expectations for this intimate film, which recreates the heavy atmosphere of the turn of the 1980s, marked by the Cold War and a certain disenchantment evoked among other things by multiple references to the music of the time: Joy Division , Nina Hagen, Iggy Pop, The Undertones and many others. Expectations that the film only half fulfills.

Mitterrand has just been elected when the film begins. The hope that this change of custody gives rise to is however quickly weighed down by the lackluster life led by Philippe (Thimotée Robart) and Jérôme (Joseph Olivennes), who live alone with their father and work in the family garage. The two brothers host a pirate radio station that gives them the impression of having a voice, without elevating them. Philippe, very reserved, is at the console and contemplates with fear compulsory military service, which he will not escape.

Not to simplify things, when he was assigned to Berlin, he discovered a love for Marianne (Marie Colomb), his brother’s girlfriend. His time on the doorstep of the Soviet bloc will not extinguish this budding affection, as he begins to emerge from the encroaching shadow of an embarrassing brother to whom he remains deeply attached.

Vincent Maël Cardona wanted his film to resemble radio, a medium where the voice carries without us knowing if it finds an echo in others. Not very talkative, Philippe often expresses himself in voice-over, a process that adds a layer of introspection to this coming-of-age story. And if it helps the scenario, it also weighs on the rhythm of the film and imposes a distance, partially redeemed by the very fine acting of Thimotée Robart and Marie Colomb that the camera highlights well.

You have to give the director the skill with which he reconstructs the era, without overdoing it. His direction as an actor is precise and he has found the right tone and lights to evoke the life that is hovering in the provincial town where Philippe and Jérôme live and also that which quivers strangely on the other side of the Berlin wall. . These qualities do not erase, however, the ultimately rather banal character of the scenario. The film ends with an agreed opening, without bitterness, but without real hope either.

Indoors

Drama

Magnetic

Vincent Mael Cardona

With Thimotée Robart, Marie Colomb and Joseph Olivennes

1:38

★★★