DANS LE SILENCE ET DANS LE BRUIT

In a motionless train in which they live, going nowhere. But here, nowhere is a place, a precious place, a large, beautiful building with stone walls overgrown with ivy, looking out over fields, sky and total silence. Clémence and others have found refuge here. It’s about slowing down, and the film understands this, with long shots that focus on simple actions (hanging out the laundry, rolling cigarettes). These long shots give us time to get close to the lodgers and appreciate the events that, in silence, take up their rightful place – the sound of birds singing, nature breathing in the wind, a crumpled piece of paper. Nothing forces its way in, neither the faces, nor the words, which, although few and far between, are, above all, unhurried. Clément Roussier and Hadrien Mossaz record them, simply exchanged or serious when, without representing a weighty testimony, they articulate the breaking point or collapse that led to this retreat from the violence of the world. With sober directing that matches the protagonists’ everyday lives and rhythm, the directing duo translates this system of kindness encapsulated by the film’s delicacy and gentleness as the possibility of healing. From time to time, the outside world makes its presence known; a world to which they will one day have to return and experience again. And it’s to the chaos of the buzzing city that we leave Clémence, swept off by a superb tracking shot at the end, on the Corniche Kennedy in Marseille, on the threshold of a new start. “The most important thing is never put into words”. Perhaps this is the great challenge the two directors set themselves – putting it into images.

Claire Lasolle