cinephile
 

PostED ON 16.10.2024

The director behind Anatomy of a Fall kicks off our new series of the festival, an encounter based on the cinephilia of a personality.

Justine Triet © Olivier Chassignole

Justine Triet is the filmmaker of girls who may not always be standing up, but who always pick themselves up again. Besides, one shouldn't trust appearances, and certainly not judge them... Originally drawn to painting, the director has turned out to be a gifted cinema portraitist, especially of young women obliged to handle everything at once: their jobs, their kids, their love lives... and their politics, with society constantly scrutinising their slightest failings. Age of Panic (2013), In Bed with Victoria (2016), Sibyl (2019) and Anatomy of a Fall (Palme d’or 2023), depict the lives of Western women in a multitude of states. According to Triet, who readily cites John Cassavetes, it is useful and liberating to cry without a Kleenex, to stagger through a living room, to share one's feelings while howling with laughter - in short, to be very much alive. Crisis is also vital, allowing people - girls and boys alike - to reveal themselves.

“I don't like people who are nice 100% of the time, it makes me nervous”, says Laetitia Dosch’s character to a boy, describing an overly extroverted girl, glass of alcohol in hand (Two Ships, 2011). In other words, Triet's cinema makes full use of the art of dialogue. In her works, everything is explained, nothing is swept under the rug, even if it means engaging in battle. Speaking of which, the director is interested in conflict, including collective conflict and street protests, which inspired her first short film, Sur place (2007), as well as the documentary Solférino (2008), and her first full-length feature Age of Panic, about the French elections as seen from the viewpoint of the Socialist Party, then headquartered on rue de Solférino. In between there was also Shadows in the House (2010), a documentary that would be an exception since it takes place in Sao Paulo, Brazil, if it weren't for the fact that it once again follows a woman, a mother, taking on the difficulties of the world.

V.A.

Master class
A conversation with Justine Triet
Wednesday, 16 October at 2.15 pm at the Institut Lumière (Hangar)
With the support of