“I will no longer let myself be done” on Arte.TV succeeds in making the nursing home crisis shocking

TELEVISION – Fasten your seat belt, Yolande Moreau takes the wheel. This Friday, November 22, the Belgian actress is back on the small screen for the arrival on Arte.TV of I won't let myself do this anymorea wonderful feminist “road movie” by Gustave Kervern in which she plays the co-pilot.

Our heroine, Émilie, is in real trouble. The one and only support she had until then (her son) has just died. He was the one who paid for the retirement home. No question of moving in with his daughter-in-law. She didn't offer it to him. No question, either, of staying in this establishment for the elderly. She can't afford it anyway.

From one day to the next, Émilie takes her clicks, her clacks and the few savings she has left in her pocket. This will be enough to rent a car. But to go where? Not very far. Head to the house of this former classmate who humiliated her as a child. Émilie threatens to crash him if he doesn't show her his “balls”, to use her words. Panicked, he runs.

Check out the trailer below:

It's good. Emilie can cross her name off the list. Whose turn is it? In the new film from the director of Great eveningthe septuagenarian played by the former star of Deschiens decides to take revenge on all those who have ruined her existence, and embarks on this crazy trip in a Citroën a cleaning lady (Laure Calamy) whom she convinces to do the same.

On their way, they cross paths with a slew of stars, among the most bankable in French cinema. Jonathan Cohen is a greedy (and electronic bracelet) stepson. Corinne Masiero, a driving enthusiast. Raphaël Quenard and Anna Mouglalis? Two cops a little to the west.

For her part, Alison Wheeler has everything to be next on Emilie's list. The nursing home director that she plays does not have the slightest interest in her residents, whom she treats neither more nor less like piggy banks, when she does not despise them verbally or crushes them (literally) by sitting on their bed. It's absurd and shocking.

Thelma et Louisewithout the violence

An explosive way for Gustave Kervern to address the sensitive subject of the crisis in establishments for the elderly, where public disaffection, rising costs and the decline in the quality of reception for residents have been controversial for several years, and particularly since the release, two years ago, of the shocking book by Victor Castanet (The GravediggersFayard). Last May, actress Sandrine Bonnaire's complaint against the nursing home where her mother died also led to the opening of an investigation into possible malfunctions on site.

That's not all. Satire on “human stupidity”, thereby denouncing the functioning of justice, poverty among seniors or sexism, I won't let myself do this anymore never abandons the tone of comedy, without lacking seriousness or delicacy, particularly on other dramatic subjects.

« This is a multitude of small abuses of power. But the more we progress, the deeper we sink into gravitysays the director of the TV film in the production notes. The whole challenge was to deal with themes as terrible as rape and incest with humor. […] I wanted the film to give hope and to involve everyone in the crusade of the two heroines. »

Unlike Thelma and Louise, Émilie and Lynda do not opt ​​for violence. Not a drop of blood is shed. In this “revenge movie”, words hit harder than actions. And that doesn't stop owners, police officers or any other holders – one day – of a form of power, from taking it for their rank.

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