Jean-Pierre Sinapi's brittle, funky comedy is
without a doubt the most no-nonsense, bracingly bolshy film about disability
yet made. It's set in a home for the disabled, where 50-year-old former
activist René is the despair of his new young carer Julie. Enraged by
life in a wheelchair, René demands the chance to make love again, and
Julie finds herself exploring the hard shoulder of the Route Nationale
7 to recruit a likely prostitute. René's exploits soon transform the
whole community, including a wheelchair-racing Clash fan and a young
gay Muslim with a Johnny Halliday fixation who is attempting an uneasy
conversion to Catholicism. Sinapi's film is shot digitally, which at
once gives it a crisply no-nonsense docudrama feel. But the mobility
of the new camcorder technology also becomes a metaphor for the hard-won
mobility of its characters - a militant gesture for a militant film
which has more than a touch of Mike Leigh humour about it. Sinapi's
film knocks down more than one preconception - not just about disability,
but about sexuality, religion and politics too. The crisp sparring between
Nadia Kaci and Olivier Gourmet (known for his roles in the Dardenne
brothers' Rosetta and The Promise) is just part of the pleasure of this
vibrant, provocative piece.
Jonathan Romney - Notes from London
Festival Progamme
Jean-Pierre Sinapi's brittle, funky comedy is
without a doubt the most no-nonsense, bracingly bolshy film about disability
yet made. It's set in a home for the disabled, where 50-year-old former
activist René is the despair of his new young carer Julie. Enraged by
life in a wheelchair, René demands the chance to make love again, and
Julie finds herself exploring the hard shoulder of the Route Nationale
7 to recruit a likely prostitute. René's exploits soon transform the
whole community, including a wheelchair-racing Clash fan and a young
gay Muslim with a Johnny Halliday fixation who is attempting an uneasy
conversion to Catholicism. Sinapi's film is shot digitally, which at
once gives it a crisply no-nonsense docudrama feel. But the mobility
of the new camcorder technology also becomes a metaphor for the hard-won
mobility of its characters - a militant gesture for a militant film
which has more than a touch of Mike Leigh humour about it. Sinapi's
film knocks down more than one preconception - not just about disability,
but about sexuality, religion and politics too. The crisp sparring between
Nadia Kaci and Olivier Gourmet (known for his roles in the Dardenne
brothers' Rosetta and The Promise) is just part of the pleasure of this
vibrant, provocative piece.
