Synopsis

 

A man, a business executive, whose only known weakness is excessive reading (and maybe a rather cold attitude) is suddenly suspended, following a complaint from one of his colleagues for mental harassment and physical violence. Feigning indifference at first, the man goes off without a word but, overcome with rage, he decides to abandon everything and from then on, wanders aimlessly through the countryside. Until one day, he comes across the inert and wounded body of a woman lying on the side of a deserted country road. Who is this woman? What is her story? Why has she fallen down there? And why is Arthur Rimbaud's Cahier de Douai "resting" on the ground beside her? Alternately indifferent, hesitant, sheepish, the man is finally going to make a choice: help her up in his own way, with his own words... And his tenderness too...

Theme

Faced with the violence, either endured or committed, that underscores daily life and knocks us to the ground, the poetry of chance, determined to find us, collects our damaged souls…..its rythms like music that sounds the hour of a thoroughly earthly redemption.
 

Sum-up
« Beaten down by the cruelties of life, two strangers will find in one another, and in the words of Rimbaud, the strength to stand up again.. »

 

Director’s project note

I am fond of saying that direction is above all about creating emotions and that the story is its essence. The themes of François Lachaud’s short story (everyday violence, man's ability to rise up) and the force of his words and those borrowed from the poem "Sun and Flesh "by Arthur Rimbaud immediately resonated with me.

 

I realized during the preparation of the film that I would have to approach the direction in a physical, organic way ... so that the violence  could rise in crescendo until the main characters fell abruptly in order to better stand-up together through the grace of Rimbaud’s poem. The whole construction of the film takes us to the announced meeting, the culmination of all the emotions. Art direction, editing, image processing and sound surround us in a reality in which arises bit by bit unreal and symbolic elements. Down to the climate itself, earthy and damp, I wanted to deal realistically with Rimbaud's poem. I wanted the actors to perform "Sun and Flesh", keeping in mind the physical and mental state of their characters at that moment in the story, as a dialogue between two people who only have these words to communicate. Words that have resisted the violence that the characters have experienced.

                               

I thus addressed head-on the theme of the story:  "secular" redemption, where a harsh reality can give birth to an emotion.

 

Director’s bio

 

After graduating from the Free French Cinema Conservatory in Paris, Christophe began his career as an assistant director and a production assistant in television. However, he never forgot his true passion, the cinema. 

In 2005, he became the co-founder of Ouvre Les Yeux’ productions and created corporate films, video clips and short television programs. During this time he made short films, one of which, ‘Léa No More’, was selected for the Short Film Corner at the 2012 Cannes film Festival,. Following this he wrote and directed the short film ‘Béatrice".

 

 In 2014 he directed the short film "Somewhere In Provence", co-produced by Bambule Films.

 

In 2015 he made his more ambitious short film "La Relève" based on a short story by François Lachaud and produced by Bambule Films.