“My life, my face”, a whimsical and offbeat self-portrait of the director Sophie Fillières who passed away in July 2023

Agnès Jaoui masterfully portrays a character from start to finish who is at once exuberant, fragile and terribly endearing.

A delicate and funny tale of the long journey of a woman in her fifties to find her place and a taste for life, the seventh feature film by Sophie Fillières, My life my face, is in theaters Wednesday, September 18. A release all the more anticipated and moving since the director passed away in July 2023, just after the film was shot.

Sophie Fillières has entrusted her two children Agathe and Adam Bonitzer and her editor François Quiperé with the task of editing the film and post-production. However, My life my face is in no way a tribute or a testamentary film, Sophie Fillières was not aware of her illness when she wrote the screenplay.

The filmmaker’s final feature film traces a woman’s path to rediscover her desire. A winding path between her wanderings, her fear of death and her taste for joy. This self-portrait is divided into three acts: a bittersweet comedy (Pif) about a mother’s midlife crisis, the tragedy (Paf) when life changes and finally the resurrection (Youkou) of the one who has found her place.

Throughout these three times, Sophie Filllières has no equal in telling life as it goes and its comical situations, a past master in the art of self-mockery. Better still, she offers poetry – words, images, sequences – a central place in her story, as a response to the absurdity of life.

Even though other actors play a strong role in the film, notably Valérie Donzelli (who plays the main character’s sister), Laurent Capelluto (an old acquaintance) and Philippe Katerine (himself), Agnès Jaoui is in every shot. In the role of Barberie Bichette (known as Barbie), she subtly embodies this fanciful heroine who wonders in the morning how many showers she has left before death, shines at night with her yellow vest and scolds her psychoanalyst during the day when he refuses to take part in a trivial conversation. This character is the director’s ater ego. Agnès Jaoui confirmed to us to what extent Sophie Fillières pushed this mimicry: “She didn’t say to me: you will be me. On the other hand, she gave me her clothes, her t-shirts, her rings that I gave back to her every evening, her shoes that make me walk in a particular way…”. And to add: “It was filmed at her house, with her friends! And the scenes with her shrink were filmed at her shrink’s house, with her shrink. So, well…”.

Whimsical and clumsy, My life my face upsets and surprises with its light. Like this scene where Barberie leaves his children, Rose (Angelina Woreth) and Junior (Edouard Sulpice) on the quay, to escape to the Scottish Highlands. A joyful and confident goodbye. A disturbing scene as it reveals itself today as premonitory.

Gender : Comedy drama
Director: Sophie Fillières
Actors: Agnès Jaoui, Valérie Donzelli, Philippe Katherine, Angelina Woreth, Edouard Sulpice
Country : France
Duration : 1h39
Exit : September 18, 2024