LE FILM

Ruth Chaï-Seckl has recently settled in Marq-en-Baroeul (North of France) where she has taken a job as a primary school teacher. She is bored; her failed attempts at her making her pupils more interested in school through extra-curricular activities and outings have made her depressed, and she has started to despise them. She strikes a friendship with her neighbour, Gisèle Farache-Sanchez, who works at the post office. They decide to take part in the International Documentary Film Festival in Marseilles. The two women begin to film each other and tell their life stories in front of the camera. Once the initial reticence and fear of ridicule have vanished, they start to open their heart in front of the camera. Hence, we discover that Ruth wanted to be a Jew in spite of her father’s opposition, and that Gisèle, who was adopted at birth, listens to Julio Iglesias all day long because she thinks she might be of Spanish origins. The film, called Racines, acts as a space for disclosure. The project starts to impact on those who are close to the two women: Juan, Gisèle’s husband, their strange neighbour, madame Havetz, as well as the baker woman Chrissie. Everyone feels the need to talk to the camera. After Le musée de la sirène and Le corps de Liane, Cypora Petitjean-Cerf demonstrates anew her formidable talent for story-telling. Structured like a scenario, as a series of brief scenes that combine colourful characters, an irresistible sense of ‘mise en scène’ and sparkling dialogues, Le film is a joyful and inventive tale infused with an irresistible sense of gentleness and generosity.