For fifteen years, at the very end of August, the Angoulême Festival has served as a barometer for French-speaking cinema which comes there to show the public its new productions. “Angoulême is often a starting point for films and it has test value for us”, recognizes Didier Lacourt, director of distribution at Diaphana. Two years ago, Antoinette in the Cevennes his successful career began there. The distributor places its hopes this year in Annie Angerby Blandine Lenoir, presented in competition, with the same Laure Calamy (in theaters November 30).
However, the issue is different. At the time, the public, after a first confinement, returned to the rooms with a certain enthusiasm. After two dotted years, it now seems more difficult to move. Attendance remains at half mast, even if the unexpected successes this summer of The Night of 12 by Dominik Moll et de the beasts by Rodrigo Sorogoyen were interpreted as positive signs. From this point of view, the festival was another. About fifty films were presented there and the sessions were almost full, reviving the carefree atmosphere of before the Covid. To the great satisfaction of its co-director Dominique Besnehard who hoped to reach 50,000 admissions in 2019 (compared to 23,000 in 2020 and 43,000 in 2021).
The competition dominated by women
Highly anticipated by the public, films like honorary citizenby Mohamed Hamidi with Kad Merad, The Cyclades by Marc Fitoussi or Simone, the trip of the century, by Olivier Dahan on Simone Veil were screened in seven theaters simultaneously to meet demand. A welcome that was good for the teams, but which is not quite enough to reassure the professionals. “If there is a recovery, it will take time, especially since the economic context and the question of purchasing power are not helping, notes Didier Lacourt. For spectators to move today, it has to be worth it. »
“The desire of the public has changedconfirms Grégoire Marchal, director of distribution at KMBO, which presented two films in the selection. There is a certain type of cinema which clearly no longer resonates with the public. We may be paying for a certain reluctance in production. It’s up to us to be innovative and to ensure that the cinema does not become outdated. »
The competition (mostly first and second films), if it has not shown great formal audacity, has in any case shown its ability to renew itself in substance. More feminine – seven films out of the ten were made by women – and more in tune with the major subjects of the time. Abortion with Annie Anger which recalls in a didactic way the fights which preceded the adoption of the Veil law in the 1970s, the desire for motherhood in The Sixth Child, by Léopold Legrand or the fate of migrants on the border of the Alps with The survivors, rather clumsy first film by Guillaume Renusson.
A great diversity
The emancipation of women in Algeria is at the heart of Houriathe second film by Franco-Algerian Mounia Meddour after Papicha, and repressed homosexuality in The blue of the caftan by Moroccan Maryam Touzani, two very beautiful films in quite different genres. But these are unquestionably Noémie says yes, by Quebecer Geneviève Albert, who tackles the issue of the prostitution of young runaway girls head-on, and The worst, by Lise Akoka and Romane Gueret, on the set of a film in a city of Boulogne-sur-Mer, which impressed the festival-goers and distinguished themselves by their originality.
In between A great race by Christian Carion with Line Renaud and Dany Boon screened at the opening and the very delightful L’Innocentby Louis Garrel chosen for the closing, the festival reflected the great diversity of French cinema, testifying in spite of the current difficulties to a still intact vitality.