the first fiction feature film by Stéphane Marchetti explores an irrepressible desire to help against a backdrop of irregular immigration

An impulsive woman confronted with a desperate young migrant: this is the duo formed by Stéphane Marchetti to describe the psychology of an individual, who takes all the risks, to ultimately accomplish a gesture of solidarity.

The Cool Head, to be discovered in theaters on January 17, is the first feature-length fiction film by Stéphane Marchetti. The French filmmaker, co-director with Thomas Dandois of the documentary Calais, children of the jungle (2017), is interested in the psychology of a character, who decides to help a young refugee in an irregular situation, ignoring the risks incurred by himself and his loved ones. Swe heroine, Marie (Florence Loiret Caille) is a 45-year-old woman who does not, a priori, have the material means to be one.

In the Alps, on the border between France and Italy, she works in a bar and supplements her income by trafficking cigarettes between the two countries thanks to the valuable information provided by her lover Alex, a border policeman. It is during one of her journeys that she crosses paths with Souleymane (Saabo Balde), a Gambian migrant who was trying to reach France by mountain, a simple stopover before his final destination, the United Kingdom.

In all candor, Marie allows him to reach his destination and when he thanks her, she evokes this “magic” which allows it to cross borders without having to worry about border controls. Obviously, the information does not fall on deaf ears. Souleymane immediately offers her the opportunity to become a courier. An idea that she brushes aside, before leading him to a shelter. Unfortunately, Marie’s life is not smooth sailing because she really needs money. Just to continue to occupy her location on the campsite where she lives. When Souleymane, asked to leave the shelter, asks him to accommodate him, his proposal naturally resurfaces.

A succession of “bad decisions”

The Cold Head is an antithesis, as Stéphane Marchetti points out, because the filmmaker films an impulsive woman. “I often make bad decisions”, summarizes Marie, whose words are confirmed in a succession of scenes where we see her, tirelessly, acting in this way. Florence Loiret Caille depicts with a certain talent an irrational person inspiring, by accumulation, no sympathy. Just like his alter ego, Souleymane. Legitimately obsessed with joining his little sister, a minor under guard, but left to her own devices, who managed to continue her journey, he hardly seems concerned about the fate of Marie who takes disproportionate risks.

The relationship between the two characters of The Cold Head seems less balanced than that proposed, for example, recently, by The price of passage by Thierry Binisti. This asymmetry underlines the powerful glue that can constitute two precarious situations which respond to each other unconsciously. If empathy is obviously the driving force behind all those who come to the aid of irregular migrants, Marchetti’s feature film highlights an additional dimension, its seemingly irrepressible character. And this is where the originality of the subject lies from Cold Head.

Here, the psychological dynamics of an individual take precedence over logistics, compared to other films on the subject. Irregular immigration in Europe is a subject that cinema has explored from almost every angle. Me, Captain by Matteo Garrone, one of the first films that French audiences discovered in theaters this year, is a recent example. For its part, The Cold Head defends a thesis: helping, whatever the circumstances, sometimes boils down to to a simple impulse, which escapes reason, often linked to deep convictions and which is above all due to our common humanity.