En 2021, at the end of the Covid-19 pandemic, American actor and comedian Will Ferrell received an email from his best friend, screenwriter Harper Steele. A few lines in which she announces her choice to begin a process of gender change. A decision that she had been mulling over for many years and which she had never dared to take on, until the health crisis and the confinement that it caused. A long period of introspection where she finally decided to take the plunge.
If emotion is omnipresent throughout the film, laughter is also often present.
Netflix
This coming out as a woman serves as the starting point for the documentary “Will & Harper” which, in just under two hours, materializes into a seventeen-day road trip across the United States at the wheel of their Jeep Grand Wagoneer. A journey initiated by Ferrell to question her thirty-year-old friend about her new gender identity, reassure her about their relationship, but also explore the condition of transgender people in the country. The idea of making a film came next, considering that in addition to the testimony of their adventures it could also become a powerful societal experience.
Radiant protagonists on an introspective journey
Will Ferrell became known to the general public in the 1990s, becoming one of the emblematic figures of “Saturday Night Live”, the humorous high mass of American television. Since its launch in 1975, the sketch show has propelled names like Bill Murray, Adam Sandler, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Kristen Wiig to the forefront. It was through this show that he and Harper Steel met and cut their teeth in front of and behind the cameras, over time weaving this bond that is so powerful today.
Because if the object works so well, it is above all thanks to the infinite tenderness that the two comrades show each other. An immense affection and a deep respect which punctuate the screen, all coupled with a perpetual desire to say the right word in order to make his counterpart hilarious. A process that makes the program a true initiatory journey, made of sincere conversations and questioning, carried by a choice soundtrack – from Bob Dylan to Bon Iver, including Elton John and Tom Petty. Dreamlike interludes overtaken by situations of implacable reality, notably with this stop in a remote “dinner” (restaurant) in Texas, where they simply become the curious beasts of a clientele not very alert on the question of LGBTQIA+ rights.
A nice reputation which generated a lot of waiting
Directed by Josh Greenbaum and since acquired by Netflix, “Will & Harper” was first presented at the Sundance independent film festival, where it enjoyed a warm reception. Since its release on the platform, it turns out that the praise was amply legitimate. In its poignant way of evoking the mistakes and difficulties of a transgender person in being accepted, but also in its ability to rekindle hope in the evolution of mentalities and the possibility of a more open and caring dialogue, the film turns out to be a little cannon of emotions, flanked by a dazzling eulogy to tolerance and friendship.
