Wise women, Mother Gloria, Banel

Drama by Léa Fehner, 1h38

In Midwives, no star in the cast but an excellent cast carried by students from the National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts in Paris, mixed with professional midwives. The immersion is total, hyperrealistic. It is done through the eyes of Louise (Héloïse Janjaud) and Sofia (Khadija Kouyaté), two young midwives, friends and roommates, who join their first position in a public maternity hospital. The first is shy, clumsy, very quickly overwhelmed by the infernal pace of an overwhelmed service. The second is determined, with impeccable technical skill. Before wavering after a complicated childbirth that plunges a baby into a coma. One of the strengths of the film is to show real deliveries, by low voice or caesarean section, with real newborns and not very beautiful two-month-old babies, very clean as often in the cinema. All is not always rosy, however. A migrant feels unable to take her child in her arms and give it a name. A couple has an appointment for the delivery of their baby who died in utero. The most beautiful profession in the world has lead in the wing. Despite the lack of personnel, the overtime that devours personal life, the failing equipment, the carelessness of the hospital, there emerges from this maternity a beautiful sisterhood. There are a few men in the middle of these first chores. And above all, fathers, helpless spectators, paralyzed by the suffering of parturients. E.S.

À lire aussiNotre critique de Sages-femmes: premiers pas à la maternité

Drame de Marie Amachoukeli, 1h24

How do you say turtle in Portuguese? " Tartaruga". If you want to put the Cape Verdean accent correctly, the pronunciation is difficult. Cléo (Louise Mauroy-Panzani) tries it, her baby smile surrounded by soap suds. She looks at her nanny, who rolls her 'r's and hugs her. Gloria (Ilça Moreno Zego) and they have something of fusion. One because she lost her mother. The other because his own toddlers live 4,000 kilometers away. Director Marie Amachoukeli, Golden Camera in 2014 at Cannes with Claire Burger and Samuel Theis for the disturbing Party Girl, enters her subject as one puts one's feet in a hot bath: very gently. We see Gloria take the 6-year-old girl to school, prepare her snack, tell her stories with her accent from the African island. When the father (the musician Arnaud Rebotini) enters the room, he almost throws a cold. Poor guy, he can't fight, he who has to talk about money, schedules, these adult things. And then comes the jolt. Gloria loses her mother. She must urgently return to her village for the burial and will now have to stay there to take care of her children. The kid loses her footing, begins to feel that life can be tough. His father finds a solution: a two-week trip to Cape Verde before really saying goodbye. When summer comes, Gloria waits for him at Praia airport. The bond is easily renewed during walks on the rocks, at the edge of the Atlantic. Gloria's son takes a dim view of this sometimes capricious little Westerner who has the right in all respects and takes his mother away from him. We understand it well. But Ama Gloria, who opened the selection for Critics' Week this year at the Cannes Film Festival, does not delve into the nanny's bizarre relationship with her children. Perhaps the movie could have done more of these ambivalent relationships. B.P.

Drama of Ramata-Toulaye's Mother, 1h2

Two strong heads. She doesn't want a child. He refuses to become the village chief. Banel and Adama love each other. This love is enough for them. In this remote region of Senegal, this freedom is shocking. Traditions die hard. They are married: they must start a family. They don't hear it that way. Their dearest wish is to go live outside, in this sandy house. It doesn't matter that she has the reputation of being cursed. They will be stronger than superstitions. That's what they believe. Ramata-Toulaye Sy adopts the tone of the fable, like "The Shepherd and the Rebel". She paints the portrait of this stubborn, emancipated woman. Sometimes the heroine worries. She goes too far. His companion is scared. Drought is no joke. The animals are dying of thirst. Soon, it's the men's turn. The couple is blamed for the situation. If at least they had listened to the imam, respected the customs. But no, Banel considers himself above that, with his close-cropped hair and his colorful outfits. She shoots the birds with a slingshot. One day, she targets Adama: it's because he doesn't deserve her. A kind of sweet madness overtakes her. Voices whisper secrets to him. She chants his name like a mantra. Often, she crouches at the foot of a huge tree with roots like a dinosaur skeleton. Her fight may have been a losing one, but she tried. The rain does not come. The tragedy takes shape in these landscapes crushed by heat. There is something solar, fatal in this destiny doomed to failure. Despite some clumsiness, the desire for cinema is there, obvious. IN.

Documentary by Alexander Abaturov, 1 h 28

The fire is raging. The inhabitants of this Siberian village call him the Dragon. The authorities leave them to fend for themselves. In this summer of 2021, millions of hectares are charred. The fire surrounds them. Thirty-one houses have already burned down. Ashes darken the sky. With their masks and goggles, the locals act as firefighters. This documentary follows them. We are with them. It's beautiful, terrible and gripping. Plans literally jump at the throat. IN.

Drama de Sho Miyake, 1 h 40

In the suburbs of Tokyo just after the start of the pandemic, La Beauté du geste follows the apprenticeship story of a young boxer with hearing loss who has just turned professional. This thrifty and modest first film by Sho Miyake opts for a good quality documentary approach. The young Keiko, who during the day cleans hotel rooms, spends the rest of her life training in an old gymnasium on the verge of bankruptcy. Rhythmed by the repetitive ballet of the heroine's daily training, the film follows the journey of a relentless but mute young woman in search of serenity. Adapted from the autobiography of boxer Keiko Ogasawara, the film aims to be an "anti-Rocky". More than the rage to win, we especially feel the loneliness and sadness of a woman lost in a world she does not understand. O.D.

Comedy by Bastien Milheau, 1 h 19

Bastien Milheau, freshly graduated from La Fémis, pays tribute to SuperGrave, cult comedy by Greg Mottola, with Jonah Hill and Michael Cera as high school students ready to do anything to lose their virginity, especially to drink like holes. The argument here is the same, transposed to the Southwest. Two friends, a boy (Janus) and a girl (Sam), want to celebrate the end of their baccalaureate by having a drunk. Super-bourrés is wiser than its model, but the duo formed by the puny Pierre Gommé and the robust Nina Poletto is irresistible. E.S.