«Roxane», a film more promising than successful

Cinema Wednesdays - Jonas Follonier

Guillaume de Tonquédec and his chickens: that's how you could sum up the cinematic experience currently playing on your screens. If Roxane is a humane portrayal of the passion for language and the tragic reality of certain peasants, it's hard to see it as a finished work.

This is the story of a chicken farmer who discovers a passion for poetry and, following the catastrophic announcement that the local cooperative will no longer be selling their eggs, he turns what was complicity with his little ladies on legs into a subject to be to gain views on YouTube. And therefore visibility - and money to save the family farm. The script's basic idea is a good one, and the casting excellent. We didn't expect to see Guillaume de Tonquédec in the role of a chicken farmer. of a chicken farmer, and it's fair to say that he's quite good at it.

The only problem is that, apart from the actors' generally impeccable performances, there isn't much to salvage from an artistic point of view. The most distressing aspect is the photography: at times, you'd think you were watching a documentary, so shaky is the camerawork, and the image doesn't shake you! Yet there would have been plenty of good shots to be had in this little corner of the world, except for the successful dialogue between the character and his chickens. As for the original music, it's a little below what we're used to hearing in this type of film.

Where you have to leave something to Roxane by Mélanie Auffret, in addition to the acting, is the emotion the director has tried to convey to the viewer. While the result is clearly mixed, the approach is nonetheless commendable. It's all the more commendable for highlighting the obvious yet overlooked fact that culture is possible for everyone. And, of course, the terrible fact that a farmer commits suicide every three days in France. A reality that Guillaume de Tonquédec truly understood when preparing for his role with farmers, as he shared with us at the preview.

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

Photo credit: © Pathé Films