Seuls les pirates

Gaël Lépingle continues, in continuously renewed formats, to explore a rare space in cinema: the representation of provincial “middle classes”. After Julien (FID 2010), an epic film with an eventful touch shot between Beauce and Val de Loire and, more recently, focusing on The Three Musketeers set to music near the Tarn in Une jolie vallée (FID 2015), we find ourselves close to Orléans. The setting? A mezzo voce-style urban planning within landscapes without qualities: tasteless offices, lifeless quiet and deserted streets, bleak suburban neighborhoods. And a set of characters portrayed in a non-judgmental way, heroes without much fanfare, anchored in an ordinary life. First there will be Géro, an aging actor dedicated to his small theatre. He sees himself as a pirate from a swashbuckling novel, so as to resist the gentrification of his area, forcing him to leave his minor theatre: the setting-up of an eco-neighborhood, a project with modest ambitions, threatens to evict him. Resisting, yet with pathetic weapons, for this actor who considers himself a filibuster, whose muffled voice underlines the don quixotic dimension of the undertaking. Or dreaming of somewhere else, as his teenage nephew wishes, eager to write as well as to go on adventurous journeys. Or even seeing the passing of time for this woman in her late forties, daydreaming about the ever so distant love, and busy regaining custody of her son. The scenes follow one another as paintings, with in the background Moussorgski’s music with restrained lyricism, punctuated with a discreet voice-over narration. And finding a hospitable area for them, just like Goldilocks and her bowls, neither too hot, nor too cold. (NF)