Four girlfriends in a car. They leave to bury the life of a young girl of one of them, in Romania, type the discussion and bicker. At a service station, theft of their car and their identity papers. Only way out? Squatting with locals. “What do they want?” » questions, unkindly, the mother who welcomes them before the barrier of mutual distrust breaks down. ” Take a shower. – At four ? » The first feature film by actress Noémie Merlant, author of “Shakira”, a short noticed on the Roma community, has the merit of overturning the usual representations. Here, it is the French women who first appear as the most deprived. Jeanne (Noémie Merlant), 27, starts looking at Nino (Gimi-Nicolae Covaci, handsome as a god, also co-screenwriter of the film), who claims to be older than he is: 21, brags he. His clan grills him: only 17, in real life.
Energetic and touching beginnings
Autobiographical, self-produced, filmed with a handheld camera in sixteen days, largely in Covaci’s family, “Mi iubita, mon amour”, love film, surfs on the thirst for freedom, the desire for breaking the rules, the beauty of the present moment, the magic of the first times. It is not free from blunders (too many shots on Noémie Merlant, a story of local gangsters that does not convince). But he knows how to let a party last and a man to tell his story, to film the skin, the sweat, the bodies at the beach with sensuality – on a mind-blowing electro music – or a joyous trip to a fairground. He also imagines a love scene between Jeanne and Nino all in delicacy, modesty and benevolence, where the influence has no place; constantly looking for the accident.
The sequel after the ad
He doesn’t idealize anything either: not sure that these two worlds are reconcilable. Luàna Bajrami, discovered this year with “the Hill where the lionesses roar”, and Noémie Merlant – both actresses in “Portrait of the young girl on fire” by Céline Sciamma – have in common their desire to fly to other lands (his native Kosovo for Bajrami), where the girls drive around in summer, hair in the wind, the desire to give voice to those who do not have it or not enough, and a desire for cinema to devour ‘screen. Getting started is never easy. Those of Noémie Merlant are undoubtedly imperfect, but energetic and touching.
Wednesday April 19 at 8:50 p.m. on Ciné+ Club. French drama by Noémie Merlant (2022). With Noémie Merlant, Gimi Covaci, Sanda Codreanun Clara Lama-Schmit, Alexia Lefaix. 1h35. (Multicast and On Demand).
