John Wax, co-director of Simply black, signs a first solo feature film carried by the crazy energy of actress Audrey Lamy and by the surprising interpretation of Eden Lopes, the very young actor playing the autistic child. Presented at the Angoulême Francophone Film Festival 2024, In flip-flops at the foot of the Himalayas releases in theaters on November 13, 2024.
Andrea, 6 years old, is entering the main kindergarten section. He has autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Diagnosed at the age of 3, he benefits at school and at home from the presence of Samia, who helps him with specific tools to progress. This last year of kindergarten is decisive for the future of the little boy, who could see his schooling interrupted if he does not acquire sufficient autonomy and certain basics to continue in elementary school.
His parents have just separated. Pauline, her mother, has moved in with her immature brother and she tends to drink a little too much after the bar where she is a waitress closes. This setting is not ideal for helping Andrea gain independence.
Will Pauline’s love be enough to overcome the trials that await her? Will she be able to help her son grow up? This is what this film tells in the register of comedy, inspired by the one-on-stage by Marie-Odile Weiss, in which she recounted her daily life as the mother of an autistic child. Co-writer, she also plays the role of the school principal in the film.
“Marie-Odile was there every day on set to coach us, to make the film as credible as possible, to guide us on somewhat complex things, like crisis situations, more technical words”confides Audrey Lamy in an interview with franceinfo Culture.
If autism is at the heart of his first feature film, John Wax also portrays a 40-year-old woman, a mother who, as she says, “is not equipped” to climb the mountain that stands before her. “In this story, all the characters have in common that they are not autonomous.explains Audrey Lamy. And that’s the whole point of this pivotal year for Andrea, which will become the scene of a double emancipation: that of the little boy, but also that of Pauline.
“The scenario is inspired by Marie-Odile Weiss’s show, but there is also a lot of me in the character of Pauline, and in that of her brother”, confides John Wax to franceinfo Culture.
“Their father is my father. It’s this generation for whom the role of father was limited to bringing money home. There was no listening”raconte John Wax. “I am a father today, and it’s very different. I have two children from two women from whom I am separated, it’s a subject that speaks to me,” confides the director.
The parental burden is here amplified by the child’s disability. Arrive on time despite the need for Andrea to count the buses before getting on them, manage the administrative paperwork, convince the teacher to keep Andrea in the end-of-year show, familiarize herself with the appropriate teaching tools, unclog the toilets that Andrea mouths almost every day…
The frantic pace of the film clearly depicts the marathon into which parents of children with disabilities are launched, and the colossal amount of difficulties they have to overcome. In an unpretentious production, but full of energy focused on the action and the characters, John Wax, like Artus, demolishes the clichés about disability in his own way.
Audrey Lamy confides that she was seduced by the “very realistic side, but without being overwhelming (…), by the tone that John manages to set in this story which deals with a very sensitive subject, a very complex subject, by injecting humor, smiles, laughter, joy, love”.
This dramatic comedy is literally carried by the energy of the actress, but also by the accuracy of Eden Lopes’ acting judiciously “chosen from hundreds of children”and by the commitment of the entire cast. In flip-flops at the foot of the Himalayas pays tribute without pathos to the tenacity and courage of all the parents of these children endowed with “a little something extra”.
Genre : Drama comedy
Director: John Wax
Actors: Audrey Lamy, Nicolas Chupin, Eden Lopes
Pays : Belgium, France, Japan
Duration : 1h33
Sortie : November 13, 2024
Distributer : The Pact
Synopsis : Pauline is the mother of Andrea, 6 and a half years old, a wonderful little boy who was diagnosed with ASD: an autism spectrum disorder. He’s not really at the level, but he’s still in school and is getting ready to start the main kindergarten section. For Pauline, without a fixed income and recently separated from Fabrice, Andrea’s father, everything seems to conspire to make her life a succession of failures. However, for Andrea, this is a crucial year which will determine whether or not he can stay in school and thus have a better chance of seeing his condition improve. But for that, Andrea needs stability, and for Pauline, providing it to her is a bit (a lot) like climbing the Himalayas in flip-flops…
