The Principal, The Daughter of Albino Rodrigue, War Pony… The films to see or avoid this week

Drama by Chad Chenouga, 1h22

Sabri (Roschdy Zem) is a deputy principal at a suburban middle school. What's got into him? This gentleman who is good in all respects suddenly switches to illegality. Why did he go and give the corrected copy to his son who is taking the patent? Naël is an excellent student, he doesn't need that. The kid is not aware of this knife stroke. The father wants a mention for him on the exam. For this, he is ready for anything. Roschdy Zem dons the suit and tie of this civil servant struggling in the trap he has set for himself. This actor has the quiet strength of a Cary Grant, the flouted innocence of James Stewart. He risks becoming our Gabin. He has the build. His presence is indisputable. You have to consider him, straight in his boots, hiding the flaw that tears him apart, a little stiff, always on the alert. The hero comes back from afar. Translate: from the neighboring city, where his brother, just released from prison, is immersed in various traffics. The inhabitants of the building in which he grew up have the impression that he betrayed, that he is no longer one of them. There is an expression for that, class defector, which we are wrong to put all the sauces. Social mobility, however, is not an empty word. He is proof of that. The Principal gives flesh to these torments. Wealth and sobriety are the two breasts of this Principal who does not rest solely on the shoulders of his interpreter. IN.

À lire aussiNotre critique du Principal: la faute d'un homme presque parfait

Horror film by Julius Avery, 1h43

Set in 1987, the plot of The Exorcist of the Vatican follows the peregrinations of Father Amorth, a cultivated priest, deeply pious, but refractory to superstitions, who humbly rides a Lambretta scooter through the streets of Rome. While the high authorities of the Roman clergy summon this nonconformist priest to question his conduct, which is heterodox to say the least, the Pope calls on him for an urgent mission. A young American exile with his mother and sister in an old Spanish monastery seems possessed by the devil. Neither one nor two, Amorth takes the plane and goes there to investigate. On this altogether classic and conventional frame, Avery camps a 2.0 horror film in the form of a successful tribute to the founding masterpiece by William Friedkin released just 50 years ago. But what makes the film especially interesting is the convincing presence of Russell Crowe. By lending his imposing stature and his clever bonhomie to the character of Gabriele Amorth, Crowe literally bursts the screen. The homage to Friedkin's film is assumed. Basically, the greatest strength of the film is undoubtedly not to take itself too seriously, while offering the spectators its dose of dread and shivers… O.D.

Drame de Christine Dory, 1h33

Rosemay gets off the train, bag on her back. Contrary to usual, her father did not pick her up at the station to take her home at the start of the summer holidays. The 16-year-old girl calls him but he doesn't answer the phone. The house is empty. The next morning, her father did not reappear. His mother, Marga, chats with her brother in the kitchen. When Rosemay asks her for an explanation, she replies that he is in the hospital, victim of a stroke, as if he had gone fishing. The first lie of a long series. It allows Marga to gain time, to send her daughter back to her foster family without her having had time to visit her father, Albino Rodrigue. Émilie Dequenne composes this unloving and irresponsible mother, monstrous and banal, in a rather staggering way. The staging of Christine Dory is of the clear line. However, the truth remains opaque for a long time. It almost sounds like Chabrol among the proletarians. La Fille d'Albino Rodrigue, inspired by real events, is a story of emancipation. Rosemay struggles with a toxic mother. She also fights against social determinism. In the skin of Rosemay, Galatéa Bellugi is formidable in righteousness and fragility, determination and shyness. E.S.

Drama by Gina Gammell and Riley Keough, 1:54 p.m

In his early twenties, Bill already has two children from two different companions, but tries to capture the American dream through work and poodle breeding. With ten years younger on the clock, Matho refines his stature as a kingpin, digs into his father's stock of drugs to better resell it. A bitter and phantasmagorical dive into the daily traffic, expedients and system D of a Sioux reserve in Dakota, War Pony made a strong impression in Cannes and Deauville. Winning the Camera d'Or and the Jury Prize respectively. This naturalistic, almost documentary crossover portrait, tinged with magical realism and esoteric signs, of well-meaning galley slaves exposed to centuries of spoliation and marginalization, revealed an astonishing duo of directors: the actress and granddaughter of Elvis Presley Riley Keough (Daisy Jones and The Six) and music video and commercial writer Gina Gammell. C.J.