«Crossroads: between matter and memory

Cinema Wednesdays - Thierry Fivaz

On the evening of Monday October 8, the Apollo cinema in Neuchâtel was buzzing with excitement. For the second time in its history, the Pierrot Productions association had invited its sponsors, partners and friends to preview its new short film entitled Crossroads.

Now celebrating its second anniversary, the student association Pierrot Productions—founded by Kylian Henchoz and Cyrill Burri—aims to introduce students at the University of Neuchâtel to the audiovisual field. To achieve this, the association’s members traditionally get together during the first week of July to make a short film. It’s a wonderful opportunity that, over the course of a summer, can transform a student majoring in French language and literature into a female camera operator an experienced professional, or a future anthropologist who has become an accomplished producer and logistics specialist. A major challenge that requires extensive preparation well in advance.

The association had already taken on this challenge in 2017 when it produced its first «short film.» Titled Ogre Sugar (recently screened at the Festival romand du court-métrage in Yverdon-les-Bains), this short film told the story of a young boy facing his parents’ financial and marital difficulties who, to escape this sad situation, found refuge in play. This debut film made the bold choice to venture into the fantasy genre.

While that first short film certainly had its merits, it’s safe to say that for their second, Pierrot Productions really pulled out all the stops. In terms of form, the progress—whether in terms of visuals or sound—is particularly impressive, even exponential. To achieve this result, the technical team drew on their creativity and ingenuity: a travelling from the back, shot from the trunk of a car with a drone wedged between the driver’s legs, or using leaf blowers to blast hundreds of sheets of paper through a window opening. But aside from this impressive leap in quality for amateur enthusiasts, it is the film’s screenplay that Crossroads manages to stand out.

Straight out of the imagination of Margaux Farron (a student of literature and the humanities), Crossroads tells the story of Méline, an elderly woman who lives alone in her large house and who, to stave off boredom, has been collecting her crossword puzzles—for over ten years. But one day, as she’s filling out puzzle number 1952, the elderly woman finds herself drawn into a curious conversation that leads her on a journey through her memories. Poetic, coming-of-age, punctuated by flashback tender and innocent—like moments spent with her beloved Martin—the old woman seems to be traveling back in time to a bygone era, a time when old age did not exist.

As is well known, the short film is not an easy format to master. Many directors—even prestigious ones—have failed to truly master this format—one that is often resorted to out of a lack of resources. As a result, short films can sometimes be disjointed, lacking a clear beginning or end, or reduced to scenes from a feature film; they thus lack any conclusion, or even any meaning. More rarely—and more happily—there are occasional instances where a short film charms us with its storytelling, its visuals, or its world.

In this regard, the young director Margaux Farron’s decision to «limit the use of dialogue» undoubtedly contributes to the success of this short film, which delicately and subtly conveys the daily life of an elderly woman. A daily life that unfolds to the rhythm of Verdi’s *La Traviata* and (crossword) words—the very words we so rarely hear, yet which, nonetheless, fill with their presence this existence whose life is, no doubt, already behind her.

The first public screening of Crossroads will take place on Friday, October 12, at 6:30 p.m. at the Aula des Jeunes-Rives in Neuchâtel.

For more information about the organization, see: Pierrot Productions

Write to the author: thierry.fivaz@leregardlibre.com