“Lightning” by Carmen Jaquier summons God and female desire in the Valais of 1900 – rts.ch

Summer 1900, in a valley in southern Switzerland. Elisabeth (Lilith Grasmug) is seventeen and about to make her vows when the sudden death of her older sister forces her to reunite with her family and the life of work she had left five years earlier to enter the convent.

Elisabeth is no longer a child and the mysteries surrounding her sister’s death will drive her to fight for her right to experience. And while she believed herself to be guided by faith, she was to be animated by another form of desire.

>> To see: the trailer for “Lightning”


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Reflection born of a news item

The idea behind this subtle film, never shocking, was born from a tragic incident: that of two teenagers who set themselves on fire in the suburbs of Berlin. “It disturbed me, I remembered myself at that age, the revolts that I had, how I was bubbling. I wanted to talk about these two young people. That was the point of departure, but the film was then transformed, in the course of writing”, indicates Carmen Jaquier to the RTS.

After discovering a series of small notebooks belonging to her great-grandmother in which, every day, she dialogued with God, the Geneva director wanted to situate the action during the last summer of 1900 and tell the story of a young peasant girl who would discover her sister’s story and explore her own story.

>> Learn more about the film with our dossier:

“Lightning”, a film by Carmen Jaquier

Ten years of work

The poster for the film “Lightning” by Carmen Jaquier. [DR]

From writing to production, ten years have passed. However, the Genevan has never felt tired. “The first time I wanted to make this film, reading this news item, there is like a secret that has nestled in my heart. Each time I had doubts or felt the time to lie down, I would come back to it. And my desire was still intact”.

If “Lightning” is a fiction and a testimony of the past, it is not so far from contemporary themes, explains the director again. “I wanted this story to tell something contemporary. The whole artistic and aesthetic universe of the film reminds us that we are not so far from these stories, from these injustices, and that we still have to reflect today and transform our world,” she said.

Just released in French-speaking Switzerland, the film has already traveled a lot. He has been awarded several international prizes, such as the prize for directing at the International Festival of Marrakech and the critics’ prize at the Zurich Film Festival. It also received the Quartz for Best Film Score and the Quartz for Best Sound at the Swiss Film Awards ceremony held a few days ago.

TV Subject: Julie Evard

Adaptation web: Melissa Hartel

“Lightning” by Carmen Jaquier, with Lilith Grasmug, Mermoz Melchior, Benjamin Python, Noah Watzlawick. To be seen now on French-speaking screens.

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