The finest quality of this feature-length documentary by Jean-François Lesage is to have faced a situation characterized by its anonymity to make it a subject of deep humanity.
Who is there more anonymous than a trip on public transport? We put on our headphones, we lower our eyes, we enter our bubble.
However, at the lost property counter, the human side takes back its rights. We come alive, we are agitated. The traveler arrives with an emotion, a fear, a hope, perhaps a despair. Its face will light up if the lost item has been returned there. Some will even give a brief history of it.
Mr. Lesage saw a subject there. With the authorization of the STM, he installed a camera inside the lost and found counter. The applicants are filmed from the front. Employees from behind, but their voices are heard very clearly.
Once the scene was shot, the filmmaker went to his “subjects” to ask them if they would like to continue the conversation and explore the idea of loss and the desire to find a moment from his past. Those who accepted opened their hearts as we rarely see. The result is simply fascinating.
Between reflections and confessions, between laughter and tears, between songs, words and silences, these strangers become like parents, friends, with whom we share our table. On the other side of the screen, the viewer feels like they are part of the conversation.
Shot in black and white, a gesture that accentuates each point, the film is accompanied by cutaways shot at night in the middle of winter. Mr. Lesage has shown his love of Montreal in two of his previous films, Mile End Tale and A summer love. But this time he has outdone himself. It evokes the silent power of Quebec winter with a mastery forcing admiration. Seeing these images you can’t help but remember the movie The happy life of Léopold Z by Gilles Carle.
Between a classical jazz tune at the opening, a choir formed by several actors from the film and the play The sad party of the French cold wave group Trisomie 21 at the end of the course, the musical choice is just as striking.
Poetic without being starched, going straight to the heart without being supported, comforting without being tearful, Prayer for a lost mitten is a unique film that feels good.
Indoors
Documentary
Prayer for a lost mitten
Jean-Francois Lesage
With dozens of users of the Société de transport de Montréal
1 h 19