This comedy with Marie Papillon and Stacy Martin, on Prime this Wednesday, tells the burlesque road trip of a lesbian couple in search of a sperm donation after five attempts at PMA.
After five attempts at PMA, a lesbian couple goes to Belgium for a final test. Confronted on the spot with a shortage of sperm, which a researcher tries to stem by diluting the spermatozoa remaining in the water, they embark on a mad quest across the flat country to find the ideal donor.
This is not a Belgian joke, but the story of Seed, a romantic comedy as wacky as it is touching, one of the first to tackle the subject of PMA in France – almost two years after it was opened to all women in France. Available on Prime Video from this Wednesday, this film directed by Eloïse Lang (Bitch, Dropped) features Marie Papillon, Stacy Martin and François Damiens.
“The film was born from a story by a journalist from New York Times who recounts her journey with her partner to have a child”, says Éloïse Lang. “She had lots of crazy anecdotes.”
“It was so absurd, these obstacles, this way of the cross, that Éloïse saw comedy there”, adds Pauline Mauroux, the co-screenwriter of the film.
“Mixture of truth and anything”
This starting point offered them a gallery of wacky characters, suitable for a comedy, like this researcher diluting sperm in water (obviously played by François Damiens) or this son of a good family obsessed with his figure who leads a double life as a guru and donates his sperm to all of Belgium (Guillermo Guiz).
“There is a mixture of ultra truth and ultra nonsense in the film”, specifies Éloïse Lang, who also addresses the financial reality of PMA. “I was also inspired by these sales people who go to universities to recruit sperm donors. I wondered how they could approach customers.”
Each character encountered by the heroines symbolizes an obstacle, and a lesson in their life journey. “What the film says is that when faced with systems and complications, we always have to find solutions”, comments Pauline Mauroux. “We have to keep moving forward.”
“Super strong, unstoppable heroines”
It is moreover the rhythm borrowed by Seedwhich connects the adventures without downtime.
“The story always bounces back, never stops, because the PMA process is exhausting”, analyzes Pauline Mauroux, before specifying that “the great antagonist” of this story, which slows down its heroines, is “the system”. .
With Eloïse Lang, she imagined “super strong, unstoppable heroines”, inspired by stars of American comedies, like Kate McKinnon, seen in Saturday Night Liveor Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson, the stars of series Broad City. “They decided to live their life as they saw fit.”
The director put “a lot of pressure” on herself to find “a couple we believe in”. She had “love at first sight” for Marie Papillon, whose “energy” and “crazy sincerity” she salutes. Stacy Martin seduced him with her “very British, very tongue-in-cheek” humor. “None takes the sun from the other”, rejoices Pauline Mauroux.
Despite its unpublished subject, which may have closed “a few doors” to them, Seed was set up “rather quickly”, confirms Pauline Mauroux. “We were able to have discussions that we never would have had if it was a heterosexual couple, or just two sisters. We had the obstacles that we always have on films that deal with these subjects.”
As an echo of these difficulties, the thumbnail chosen for the official trailer, on Prime Video’s YouTube channel, does not show the lesbian couple, but the character of François Damiens, posing in front of his car and a Marie Papillon full of stupor.
Seeing Pathé, one of the most powerful studios in France, support this project, however, remains a strong symbol, especially in the year ofAsterix and Musketeers. “Pathé takes risks by proposing a film like that”, underlines the scriptwriter. Not to mention that its availability on Prime allows it to “reach more people”, slips Éloïse Lang.
“To say that Gouinistan exists”
Beyond the journey of its heroines, Seed is above all a real queer romantic comedy, as there are few in France, with the exception in particular ofKiss Me (2017) et Three nights a week (2022).
“We put a lot of pressure on ourselves,” says Eloïse Lang. “There is a pressure to represent people who are few.”
Seed contains many references to lesbian culture. The word “Gouinistan” is pronounced there – perhaps for the first time in the history of French cinema? This term, used by lesbians, and which serves to designate their community, was deliberately placed in the film.
“There is an increasingly important visibility of lesbian culture. We thought it was important to mark the occasion, to say that Gouinistan exists”, insists Pauline Mauroux.
“With Pauline, we wanted to also offer a trip to Gouinistan. It’s worth it, because it’s a great universe”, exclaims Éloïse Lang.
“A place where you can feel good”
The film also refers to the Bernard Tapine Cup, “an annual event in Paris where lesbians compete by playing five-a-side football”, recalls Pauline Mauroux. “Evoking Gouinistan, it implies that there is a place where you can feel good if you do not yet feel good in who you are.”
However, Seed is aimed at the greatest number: “People who don’t know anything about it had to not feel left out, because that’s not the goal, and the people concerned had to feel that there are little nuggets just for them. This film is a meeting point, a point of convergence.”
For this reason, Seed completely eludes the question of coming out, often dealt with in the cinema. “People are ready”, slice Éloïse Lang. “It’s just a couple. It’s a film about love and the couple. I try to make films that feel good, in which we find ourselves in a kind of bubble, and which make us think a little.”
