CORNICHE KENNEDY

Corniche Kennedy is a good-sounding street name, one that strikes the ear and resonates in our memories: in it, we imagine a long winding road, streaming sunlight, where the heroic and the tragic, from here and other continents, find shelter. Corniche Kennedy – there’s no denying it – is quite a flamboyant title for Dominique Cabrera’s latest film, adapted from Maylis de Kerangal’s beautiful eponymous novel. But what does ‘adapted’ mean in this case? Shouldn’t we say, instead, and in all fairness, ‘returned to its source‘? For at last, the constantly challenged sea is here, on screen; made visible through its numerous surface reflections. At last, here is this sky, saturated by its sparkling azur. Hear we not the unmistakeable accents of local children, their rich expressions explosing in colour as they play at heros and villains? A tribute to Marseille and its people, the film presents above all the beginning of an intrigue given as evidence in this generous film so full of curiosity, so loyal to the spirit of these wonderful, dangerous, and exhilarating places where anything can happen. Dominique Cabrera has found a way to direct this small group, embodying its language and customs in the same way she ‘tames the rocks’. One might think of Aniki Bobo, or remember Vigo. What we find here is strength, humour, and tenderness. (JPR)
Jean-Pierre Rehm