Great art with «Cornelius, the howling miller».»3 reading minutes

Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival - Jonas Follonier

The werewolf myth revisited in a hilarious tale, drawing on various traditions: screened in the NIFFF's «Films of the Third Kind» category, Cornelius, the howling miller is Yann Le Quellec's first feature film. A complete and virtuoso work.

Cornélius (Bonaventure Gacon) arrives in a quiet hamlet in the middle of nowhere to restore his old mill overlooking the village. The funny man's flour is quickly appreciated, but it's his madness that soon gets the villagers riled up. The man howls at night, like a wolf. Only one person defends the man the local children call Cornichon: the vegetable garden specialist, the beautiful and tender, the divine, the fragile and radiant, the sweet and captivating Carmen, with whom Cornélius falls in love, as I do, since the woman in question is played by Anaïs Demoustier and I fall in love with her at every turn.

But let's imagine a possible world where the film didn't rely on this actress: I'd have liked it too. Everything, absolutely everything about Cornelius, the howling miller, Even though it's the comique de geste that's in the spotlight. There is something noble in the popular, something very noble. It's this universal cinema that opens the doors of the imagination, purifies us, makes us recognize ourselves in the characters, gives us a change of scenery, bores us and then fills us with wonder.

French genius and mixing genres

A zany film, a fantastic tale, a comedy-drama - there are so many incomplete adjectives that could be used to describe Cornelius, the howling miller. French cinema, that's the expression to use if we want to sum up this film in just two words to cover its essential characteristics. Yes, because French cinema has a genius all of its own. The genius of its dramatic comedy, its actors, its credits, its atmosphere, the emotions it arouses. And now a newcomer has emerged, born of this tradition but totally unique in its genre.

With Cornelius,This is Yann Le Quellec's first film. The idea came to him to adapt the novel of the same name by Finnish author Arto Paasilinna. At the end of the screening, the director explained how important it was for him to bring together different worlds: a setting reminiscent of a Western, but shot in Occitanie in the Cirque de Navacelles, with the villagers as extras; a refusal of naturalism, of realism; an exploitation of know-how in the fields of circus (a milieu from which Camille Boitel comes, playing the grocery clerk), crafts (Leonardo da Vinci's plans were used to build the mill), sport and music.

Let's talk about the music: we enjoyed the excellent opening and closing credits, with Iggy Pop's voice (yes!) blending with Anaïs Demoustier's on Martin Wheeler's compositions. Yann Le Quellec explains to the audience that the idea of calling on Iggy Pop came to him after hearing the song Les Passantes by Brassens, performed by the rocker with his thick accent and his American imagination; as surreal as the film, this version of the Passengers caught my eye last night at the festival as I was ordering a drink. Anyway, what a good choice on the part of the French director to support the «elsewhere» and «local» aspect at the same time.

In terms of themes, there's so much more to say. We're dealing both with a foreigner seeking to integrate into a community - a highly topical issue - and with a film about grief, solitude and love, with a backdrop of nature and animality. But the best part is that it's all done with humor and humanity. This film is a French Kusturica. A series of zany acrobatics and lyrical fulgurances. An essential, unmissable tale. See it this Saturday, July 14 at 12:30 p.m. at the Rex cinema in Neuchâtel.

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Write to the author: jonas.follonier@leregardlibre.com

Photo credit: © NIFFF