Often confined to marginal roles, such as an illiterate trans woman in Louise-Michelby Delépine and Kervern, and a naive painter in Seraphine, by Martin Provost, Yolande Moreau never hid the affection she herself had for the marginalized and left behind. After becoming interested in intermittent entertainment workers in When the sea rises (2004) then to people living with an intellectual disability in Henry (2013), the Belgian director this time takes her unique look at what Leonard Cohen called magnificent losers.
In her youth, Mireille (Yolande Moreau) was madly in love with a so-called poet (Sergi Lopez). Alas! The latter deceived her and the poor thing found herself in prison. Returning 40 years later to the large, dilapidated family home on the banks of the Meuse, the woman who has a degree in literature must be content to work in the cafeteria of the School of Fine Arts. To make ends meet, she smuggles cartons of cigarettes there.
Aware of his financial situation, Father Benoît (singer William Sheller) suggests that he take on tenants. The lucky ones will be Bernard (Grégory Gadebois), a divorced gardener leading a double life, Cyril (Thomas Guy), a fine arts student whose talents as a forger Mireille will want to exploit, and Elvis (Estéban), an undocumented immigrant pretending to be an American musician.
Tinted with a touch of magical realism that Jaco Van Dormael would not deny, The poet’s bride is a fable as joyful as it is disheveled where Yolande Moreau juggles with different serious themes, including broken families, disappointed loves, job insecurity, immigration, gender identity and loneliness. Rather than making everything sink into pathos, the filmmaker spices up this story of resilience, solidarity and resourcefulness with a sweet madness and a naive poetry.
In this playful universe where cement deer have a soul and bellow at night, Yolande Moreau, who wrote the screenplay with Frédérique Moreau (The Kings of the world, by Laurent Laffargue), orchestrates with tenderness and offbeat humor a series of funny scenes between these touching rogues. After a wild wedding reminiscent of the cinema of Emir Kusturica and various amusing twists and turns, the director abandons her characters towards a destiny, undoubtedly unusual, on the waves of the misty Meuse.
Indoors
Drama
The poet’s bride
Yolande Moreau
With Yolande Moreau, Grégory Gadebois, Thomas Guy, Estéban
1:43 a.m.