Second feature film by director Héléna Klotz, “The Silver Venus” intends to highlight the difficulty of moving from one social universe to another by recounting the trajectory of a person who, without conforming to the standards of middle, seeks to integrate the world of finance.
In an apartment in a gendarmerie barracks in the suburbs of Paris, Jeanne, 24, lives with her father, her younger brother and her younger sister. We understand that their mother is no longer there, that the father takes little care of his children and that Jeanne, who finances the canteen and picks up the children from school, is an almost parental figure. In the heart of the cold decor of the barracks, where the sirens of the flashing lights and the words of The Marseillaise, Jeanne seems devoid of any ally, any helper.
Jeanne’s existence is divided and constructed into two universes. There is the original universe, the barracks, his little childhood bedroom, and the target universe, the La Défense business district. Between the two, Jeanne, with a huge leather jacket and as an eternal solo rider, navigates on the saddle of her tiny scooter. His journey is presented as that of a change of world, of a transgression of social barriers, but not only that. Because Jeanne, who lives “neutral like the numbers”, also transgresses gender norms. His youth, his slim appearance and his identity do not seem to allow him – at least initially – to find a place in the hypermasculine and luxuriant sphere of finance.
Learning story
Played by Claire Pommet, otherwise known as a singer under the stage name Pomme and who here plays her first film role, the character of Jeanne stands out for her vigor and stubbornness. While she (despite a non-binary nature which may seem obvious to the viewer, the character of Jeanne is gendered feminine) works as an intern within a finance group and the refusals of fixed and well-paid positions seem s Continuing, Jeanne – whose skills could not be more obvious – manages to be spotted by pointing out a colleague’s coding error.
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From one moment to the next, she seems to gain the trust and respect of Farès, the boss of the group played by Sofiane Zermani, known in the musical world under the name of Fianso. Then begins a true learning story, within which – and in accordance with the tradition of the genre – Jeanne is ready to do anything to succeed.
Breaking a window to steal the essential uniform that is the suit, sleepless nights and seduction: the young recruit plays the game of the environment, adopts the manners, the language and bluffs with his intelligence, his motivation. In his sights, money. But not for the money as such. Jeanne dreams of the freedom that money promises to provide. In accordance with the learning stories, The Silver Venus also touches on the initiation into love since Jeanne experiences a story with Augustin (Niels Scheinder).
Without really transgressing
The Silver Venus takes up the codes of the stories of class defectors, wants to address the difficulty of finding a place when you are not immersed in the environment. The film succeeds in showing, particularly through dialogues that the director wanted to work in an almost documentary manner, a virulent and acerbic world of finance.
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Presented as an alien within this environment, Jeanne manages, between several rejections, to blend in through language and ambition. It also blends in through diplomas. Because despite the fact that it represents a popular, almost precarious figure, Jeanne graduated from a very prestigious business school.
While evoking the important questions of integration, social origin, gender and first loves, the film seems to defend itself from any political act. The exclusion from the world of finance is not definitive, the deviation from the gender norm is encrypted, and Jeanne falls in love with a boy who once attacked her. Fable of the abandonment of a voracious environment or of a finally successful conquest? The film doesn’t decide. The Silver Venus leaves the spectators with, in their hands, Jeanne’s dream, freedom.
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Gender : Drama
Director: Helena Klotz
Actors: Claire Pommet, Niels Schneider, Sofiane Zermani, Anna Mouglaglis, Grégoire Colin, Mathieu Amalric
Country : France
Duration : 1h35
Exit : 22 november 2023
Distributer : Pyramid Distribution
Synopsis: Jeanne is 24 years old. She lives in a barracks in the suburbs with her police officer father, her little brother and her little sister. She made the bet to succeed in her life in the world of finance. Not for fame or luxury, but because it is the way she found to gain her freedom.