The week’s cinema releases with Thierry Fiorile and Matteu Maestracci: “Tehachapi” by JR and “Juliette au Printemps” by Blandine Lenoir
Published
Reading time: 7 min
JR, who made himself known for his black and white portraits printed on paper and pasted in large format – from Montfermeil to the Brazilian favelas via the wall that separates Jews and Arabs in Israel – was able to carry out a crazy project in a prison American. Tehachapi, in the middle of the Californian desert, is one of the harshest prisons in the United States and in particular sector 4, where JR arrived in October 2019. Inmates locked up since their minority and with little hope of getting out , ultra-violent gang wars, cages as scoundrels, welcome to hell.
With his disarming naivety, JR takes with him tough guys, tattooed guys, who wonder why this little Frenchman wants to take their portrait and stick their XXL face on the ground of the courtyard. It works, the prisoners, so accustomed to being dehumanized, can’t believe that we can look at them with kindness and the project helps them reconnect with the outside world, via an app where they recount their journeys and envisage a path towards exit.
Despite the confinement, JR kept his project and did not let go of these inmates. A tireless “artivist”, JR convinced the California prison administration that art could help inmates envisage redemption, his project is now accessible to many prisoners.
Adapted from a successful comic book by Camille Jourdy, it is the story of a thirty-year-old illustrator suffering from depression who chooses to return to spend a few days with her family in the countryside. Broken and recomposed family, with friends, wives, lovers. And in the main role – that of Juliette – we find Izia Higelin, very convincing in the middle of a royal casting, and strong female characters, played in particular by Sophie Guillemin and Noémie Lvovsky who throw some serious bullshit in each other’s faces .
We also find Jean-Pierre Darroussin, very moving, Thomas de Pourquery or Salif Cissé, the casting and the dialogues are the two real strengths of this rather messy film, which sometimes seems improvised, but from which a real, slightly acidic tenderness emerges.