«La Petite Bande»: this year's summer movie

Four years on On the loose!, Pierre Salvadori returns with La Petite Bande, a perfect comedy for a scorching summer. A film that offers a double journey, both into the magnificent Corsican landscape and into an early adolescence when everything seemed possible. But doesn't the film run the risk of limiting itself to idealized, facile nostalgia?

Our story takes place in a Corsican village, bathed by a gentle - but never scorching - sun and magnificent streams inviting you to take a dip. But the idyll of the place is overshadowed by the chemicals flowing through them: a monstrous factory, headed by a caricature of a misanthropic director (Pio Marmaï). Five young college students decide to form a small gang in a modest attempt to... blow up the factory.

Innocent youth

Building a film around a handful of barely teenagers is undoubtedly one of the most difficult writing challenges. We see this at least every year, the latest example being the Netflix production Dangerous Liaisons, which will undoubtedly be forgotten as quickly as it was mocked. That's because it's often difficult to disguise the adult who expresses himself through children. But why not express yourself as an adult? Because children are Dostoyevsky's children: they're still pure and innocent, and their disarmingly simple observations highlight the absurdity of society. It is in this romantic apriori, in this trap of illusion that La Petite Bande seemed to be heading for an ecological theme. The temptation to sprinkle dialogue with clever little phrases - but precisely too clever for this age - must have been great.

However, writing La Petite Bande is far more subtle and enjoyable than that. This is perhaps the film's greatest asset: the dialogue is credible. Every thought in these young heads rings true, every idea seems coherent, the universe of this childhood is fully preserved, and you'll really have to strain to try and imagine the adult behind the text. These lines are carried by a cast whose mastery is astonishing! The band is well directed, committed and, once again, impeccably written. We believe in the members of this clique, their motivations, their problems, their moments of joy and sadness. More than that, we support them.

Special mention goes to the youngest, Paul Belhoste, incredibly believable in the role of the little bully, whose physique would have cast him straight into the cast of City of Lost Children by Caro and Jeunet, in another era. The youngsters are so believable that they even steal the show from Pio Marmaï, who is perhaps sometimes too comfortable as the (almost) only adult in the cast, and who indulges in some rather inappropriate antics. But that doesn't stop us from enjoying watching this group try to blow up a factory, each time with more clumsy plans than the last.

Ecology, a second eternal cause

With so much at stake, one might also expect a slightly clumsy prevention spot on the subject of ecology. Here again, the film takes a surprisingly cynical look at the situation. Little by little, the great cause fades behind the characters' true motivations. Behind the laughter lies the drama.

For example, the opportunity to spend more time with the girl you're in love with, or simply the chance to make friends. These seemingly lighter motivations conceal the very real dramas that can be encountered at this age: if the character runs after the girl he loves, it's also to escape the father who beats him. The youngest sees his new friends as a way of finally freeing himself from the school harassment he suffers on a daily basis. There's no room for the environmental cause either, just a pretext for issues that are so much more important to these young people. Faced with our individual motivations, ecology will be the eternal loser.

La Petite Bande is one of those films that skilfully blends comedy with tragedy, all set against an endlessly beautiful landscape. We constantly hope that the young people's plans will work, but not completely, just to keep us a little longer in their company in this summer universe. All in all, this is undoubtedly the film not to be missed this summer.

Write to the author: jordi.gabioud@leregardlibre.com

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Photo credits: © Roger Arpajou / Les Films Pelléas / Gaumont / France 2 Cinéma / Tovo Films