Valérie Lemercier, tender midinette in “Aline”

It’s the best start of the week, obviously Celine Dion fans have been rushing to see Aline, by and with Valérie Lemercier who takes immense pleasure in slipping into the skin of the Quebec singer, whose romantic life inspires this true-false biopic.

“It’s a Celine Dion story and a Quebec story.”

Valerie Lemercier

to franceinfo

Aline Dieu is like Celine Dion born into a humble large family in Quebec, the 15th unwanted child of a joyful and loving tribe. In Aline there is the rise of the world star, stage animal, in love, despite the age difference and the reluctance of her mother, of the one who shaped and propelled her, but there is also Valérie Lemercier. The actress-director assumes without the slightest complex her midinette side, her love of rhinestones and disguises, of dance, the performance is touching. The other success of the film is the Quebec casting ofAline.

For a year, the documentary filmmaker followed the life of a village in northern Niger, punctuated by the vital quest for water. Due to a lack of wells that the local authorities are slow to install, a nomadic Fulani tribe depends on daily chores to extract barely drinkable water from wells located miles from their camp. Strongly affected by global warming, this arid zone takes on the appearance of lunar landscapes.

“Houlaye is both a courageous mother and a child.”

Aïssa Maïga

to franceinfo

There is nothing miserable about the film, which shows the beauty of these immense expanses and its inhabitants, on the contrary. In this total destitution, we get attached to the personality of the teacher, the African version of the black hussars of the Third Republic, and to Houlaye, a 14-year-old girl, who takes care of her young brothers when her parents go far away. in transhumance with the herd or to look for work.

At 91, he’s still on both sides of the camera and even rides a horse. At the end of the 70s, in Texas, Mike, former star of the rodeo, penniless cowboy, is sent to Mexico by his former boss who wants to recover his son, a teenager living in the streets.

Classic road movie with an easy scenario, Cry Macho is far from Gran Torino, Million Dollar Baby Where The mule, nice surprise released in 2018. But there is in this twilight film a disturbing exposure of Clint Eastwood who seems to be watching his own film from the inside.

When his character, who has come back from everything, tells his young partner, a little head-to-head, that playing macho, tough, doing rodeo, all this is ridiculous, useless, we discover on the dry and wrinkled face of the old man a smile which celebrates the happiness of being there, in the present moment.


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