THIS IS OUR LAND (CHEZ NOUS) |
PLAYING AT THE CREST THEATRE. In English & French with English subtitles. BANDE ANNONCE (TRAILER) REVIEWS France’s Most Controversial Film of the Moment! Boyd van Hoeij, The Atlantic Everything rings right. Jean-Claude Jaillette, Marianne "This Is Our Land" is not only a successful entertainment, it is also a powerful warning. Caroline Vié, 20 minutes Lucas Belvaux brings us a politically aware film about the pre-electoral moves of a far-right-wing party in search of presentable front men. Fabien Lemercier, Cineuropa If no film can claim to change opinions, cinema is made to give rise to questioning. In this, "This Is Our Land" reaches its goals. Pascal Mérigeau, Le Nouvel Observateur In front of an impeccable Emilie Dequenne, André Dussollier and Guillaume Gouix navigate accurately between different areas of gray. In the background, the beautiful and desolate landscapes of a suffering region. Baptiste Thion, Le Journal du Dimanche Solidly made, in an unfussy, somewhat Loachian vein, "This Is Our Land" is not a major breakthrough in political cinema, but it’s certainly a film that deserves to be seen, thought about, and learned from. Screen Daily |
PURCHASE 16th SFFF Pauline (Emilie Dequenne, Not My Type - SFFF 2014), a hard-working, self-employed nurse in the economically devastated north of France, raises her two children alone and cares for her father (Patrick Descamps), a former steelworker. Dedicated, compassionate, friendly and generous, she is beloved by her patients who rely on her for more than their medical needs. She sees and empathizes with their everyday struggles. Taking advantage of her popularity, the leaders of the nationalist party (the fictitious RNP) approach her to be their candidate in the next mayoral election. She has been identified by the RNP’s local representative, the affable doctor and politician Philippe Berthier (beloved veteran actor André Dussollier, whose comic side can be seen in Full Speed, playing this year at the SFFF), as the perfect “poster girl” for a party in quest of respectability. Flattered and seduced by the RNP’s toned-down rhetoric, the left leaning but apolitical Pauline agrees to meet the leader of the RNP, Agnès Dorgelle (Catherine Jacob), who convinces her to run for Mayor, a decision that enrages Pauline’s communist father. Meanwhile, Pauline is also rekindling a relationship with her high school sweetheart Stéphane, aka Stanko (Guillaume Gouix, Attila Marcel - SFFF 2014, The Day I saw Your Heart - SFFF 2012). Stéphane doesn’t hide his right-wing views and supports Pauline’s decision. But what Pauline doesn’t know is that the soft-spoken Stéphane is involved in some extremist activities with his fascist friends. This Is Our Land is a thinly veiled assault on France's far-right party. Dorgelle and the RNP clearly represent Marine Le Pen and her party, the Front National, while Stéphane embodies the troubled past that the "new" party wishes to hide. This gripping film explores the Front National’s strategy to change its image by finding respectable local candidates, and examines the dangerous appeal of reactionary populism. It hit French cinemas two months before the contested presidential elections, raising controversy. The SFFF is proud to open its sixteenth edition with Lucas Belvaux's urgent and topical film. This is the second time Lucas Belvaux (one of our favorite filmmakers) opens the SFFF, in 2014 his social romance Not My Type (his first collaboration with Dequenne) played on Opening Night. Over the years we have presented several of his films: 38 Witnesses in 2012, Rapt in 2010, and his Trilogy: On the Run, An Amazing Couple, and After the Life in 2003. Shown with SABINE by Sylvain Robineau CREST THEATRE - OPENING NIGHT |
