«Family photo: an emotional snapshot

Cinema Wednesdays - Alexandre Wälti

What is a family photo? A simple question for a reality that isn't always so: single-parent families, blended families, broken families, etc. The patterns are increasingly divergent. Patterns are increasingly divergent. That's why director Cécilia Rouaud's banal idea could either fall flat or dazzle the viewer. There's no room for error or deja-vu.

Quel grand plaisir de voir autant de monde à l’entrée d’un cinéma ! Quelle joie de revoir des familles et des jeunes dans les salles ! Voilà les deux pensées que j’ai eues au moment de prendre mon billet. Il n’en restait alors plus que cinq pour l’avant-première de 17h45. C’est rare, même jamais le cas. Le septième art a dès lors été dignement fêté pour une journée spéciale à CHF 5.- tous les billets.

Perhaps it would be a good idea to lower admission prices on normal days! Perhaps interest in the cinema - which was genuine, if last Sunday's crowds are anything to go by - would pick up again, and screenings would be fuller again. Perhaps we'd see an increase in attendance.

The solidity of the script makes the film

A remark that makes particular sense in the case of Family photo by Cécilia Rouaud. And why? Because it's a true family film in the noblest sense of the word, meaning that it unites and questions the very nuclear knot of the family. The French director also wrote the screenplay. It's worth noting that the dialogues make all the difference in this film. This is a true screenwriter's pen, mastering the art of creating misunderstandings and contradictions with very few words.

What effect does it achieve? A frontal, direct effect that successively involves and repels the viewer. Dialogues that involve the viewer far more than he or she expected, before disappointing and irritating him or her. We love as much as we find annoying the grandmother, suffering from Alzheimer's and obsessed with returning to Saint-Julien to die. Where she always spent her summer vacations with her grandchildren. And that's them! We want to embrace Gabrielle (Vanessa Paradis) and her naive desire to love at all costs. Then we're overwhelmed by her sometimes suffocating love for her cold, distant son (Rio Vega, dazzling). We suffer for her brother Mao (Pierre Deladonchamps), only to find him hopeless and empty, even stupid. We feel all the anger and neuroses of their sister Elsa (Camille Cottin), even if she often seems too aggressive.

Cette petite fratrie semble avoir été heureuse uniquement sur une photo qu’ils gardent tous les trois précieusement, qui les révèle pour ce qu’ils sont : trois enfants marqués jusqu’à l’âge adulte par une séparation. Mais que s’est-il passé au fil des ans ? Tout cela s’impose et se compose progressivement dans le déroulement du film. Comme si un cliché de jeunesse représentait tout ce que les trois sœurs et frère connaissent du concept « famille ». Et qu’il était le seul lien véritable entre eux, un lien puissant. Etrange réminiscence des temps révolus de l’enfance chez mamie où ils oubliaient sans doute la séparation de leur père absent (Jean-Pierre Bacri), coureur de jupons, et de leur mère (Chantal Lauby), souvent à côté de la plaque et passive.

L’art d’être famille

You're probably thinking: «Another family comedy! nian-nian with an all-star cast! As was I, I confess, before the screening. Now you're wondering why you've read this far. You don't know any more about the film and what makes it so special. Perhaps it's simply because you have to see it to believe it.

A maxim, certainly nian-nian but which corresponds perfectly to the feelings felt in front of images and scenes of Family photo. The story is revealed through images and the many one-on-one scenes. The impression of having seen this family somewhere before. This effect is brought about by the finesse of Cécilia Rouaud's writing. A screenwriter who doesn't hesitate to absurdly interrupt her film's most dramatic moments, bringing the tension down with a sudden jolt. A director with a fine eye for portraying deep family rifts.

Cécilia Rouaud avoids déjà-vu by constantly muddying the waters, while at the same time raising another problem: the family's fragmentation, yet their love for each other. Family photo, It's the strange sensation of having experienced the situations filmed, of feeling them anew and questioning them for the future. It's also a talent for filming banal scenes with astonishing dynamism. In short, a family photo, apparently, is like the concept of family that has affected us and still affects us. A bond that is sometimes difficult, but always strong.

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Photo credit: © Agora Films