En fumée

This is France in 2015. The disenchanted population reacts as best it can to the advent of a new liberal order. Two friends, Boris and Alexis, share a minute apartment in Paris. The size of the place does not prevent them from having completely opposing political convictions, a threat to their friendship. Far from Paris and these preoccupations, the artist and dreamer, Pierre (Quentin
Papapietro) takes refuge in the writing of an opera based on the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice in an effort to forget the painful memory of Adelia, a Parisian student who is jaded by his endless love speeches. As a last breath before the Macron era (Boris comes across on his cousin, a real estate agent in search of broke students), Quentin Papapietro signs off a film which is both pro and anti ‘young-cinema’. A real self-produced musical – Papapietro also sings in the rôle of Lonely Kid Quentin – in which only the dialogues are post-synchronised; the direct sound leaves the songs at the mercy of derailing voices. En Fumée conveys an Orpheus who is sometimes brave – Pierre experiences a real learning experience despite himself – but often completely mistaken! He is blinded by his memories of love, just like Boris and Alexis are by ‘politics’, and the world in which the young protagonists evolve is blind to the truth: it is a society which prizes entertainment and, under the guise of seriousness, recycles only its own contempt. However, something of an answer seems to arise from the fog: the combined pleasures of singing and farce. In the face of conventions, En fumée suggests there is only one watchword: light up! (VP)