Twenty gods is the first feature-length fiction film by Louise Courvoisier ; she takes us into a sentimental and cheesy epic anchored in the village of her childhood.
Résumé : Totone, 18, spends most of his time drinking beers and going to Jura dance halls with his group of friends. But reality catches up with him: he must take care of his 7-year-old little sister and find a way to earn a living. He then set out to make the best county in the region, the one with which he would win the gold medal in the agricultural competition and 30,000 euros.
To view this Youtube content, you must accept cookies Advertisement.
These cookies allow our partners to offer you personalized advertising and content based on your browsing, your profile and your interests.
Manage my choices I authorize
Louise Courvoisier grew up in a small village in the Jura. She was inspired by the people around her and whom she observed since her childhood to write Twenty godsits characters and its story:
« Totone and his friends are a bit like my village “colleagues”. Most of the time, they left their studies early to work with their parents on farms. Many experience difficult family situations. I wanted to film this youth who are little represented in the cinema, who start life with less luck than many others, and to create a positive and nuanced “inside” portrait of them. »
His film takes on the appearance of a western without borrowing all of its codes. We find the relationship with space, with the conquest of territory, with adversity and sometimes, during certain adventures, a certain side ” Nickel-plated feet » surfaced:
“That’s why I chose the Scope format. I also liked the idea of filming faces marked by an experience. The fear of the unknown, the conquest of territory, all of this went with a certain awkwardness inherent to my characters and their behavior. The side Nickel-plated feet is felt in the way they act Totone and his friends. They try things, support each other in adversity. Their group, clumsy as it is, gives them momentum. »
Louise Courvoisier introduces us to a character who, from the first scene, sets the tone: he dances on the bar counter:
“I have a lot of affection for Totoneeven if he is not heroic and is full of flaws. I wanted to show its flaws as much as its strengths. Totone is a clumsy young mad dog who can dance half naked on a bar or who doesn’t help his father when he needs it, but for all that he is endearing. Totone is also a force of nature, endowed with an original way of reacting to events, and he has a sense of group. »
She describes the female figures, Totone’s little sister, the farmer Marie-Lise, and the cheesemaker:
« Marie-Lise and the little sister are characters that I wrote against the stereotypes of femininity. Marie-Lise is not into seduction, she is frank, which does not prevent her from being sexy. I wanted to move away from the caricature of the farmer and put a very capable and confident young woman in that place. For the little sister, we had to feel her intelligence in her presence and her gaze, her maturity linked to her situation, and her complicity with her brother, which begins with clumsiness and evolves as time passes. I didn’t want to make the cheesemaker an overly positive mother figure. I wanted her to be very charismatic, and it was the actress, who lives in my village, who is a prison guard in real life and whom I know well, who gave her this strength. »
Another character is present in the feature film Twenty gods : the county!
“It was a real challenge. First, we had to make the cheese cinegenic. Then, on a narrative level, we had to understand that this path of mourning was intimately linked to the making of this county, which is so central to the region where this story takes place. One of the challenges was to show the real making of a cheese, with its difficulties – this is the documentary part of the film, which is part of the fiction. »
But that was without counting on another character: the cauldron. A utensil that she describes:
“I like the idea that a seemingly unimportant tool can be transformed into an object full of promise. In the same way, my characters, who some might see as misfits, turn out to be beautiful and capable. We also see this in their gestures, which are increasingly sure and precise. With my cinematographer, Elio Balézeauxwho also studied at CinéFabrique with me, we sought to give this cauldron a form of sensuality and solemnity. We hardly see what is happening inside, until we approach it. We had to invent different ways of showing it from one scene to another, with a progression until we discover its content. »
A progression is looming across the county and cauldron; that of Totone. Twenty gods is an initiatory story:
« Oui, Totone becomes an adult by force of circumstances. The action of the film extends over several months. It follows the creation time of the cheese: the maturation time of the Comté and a little that of Totone Also ! He manages to get through his father’s mourning without ever talking about it, remaining very modest… In the countryside, unlike the city, it is not common to go see a psychologist. People have few keys to analyzing their emotions. If it doesn’t come through words and tears, how can it be expressed? I wanted to show the roughness of my characters, which does not prevent their sensitivity and their flaws from existing. Without taking them towards a pathos that does not resemble them. »
To tell his story, Louise Courvoisier carried out a wild casting in the Jura region:
“All the actors in the film are unprofessional…
Clement FaveauWho’s playing Totoneis eighteen years old and works on a poultry farm. I met him in an agricultural high school. It took me a while to convince him, but he liked the project. Clément understands everything. He manages to be fair without seeming like he’s playing. His naturalness in the game is impressive. He embodied very well the stubborn and fragile side of Totone.
For the role of the little sister, I met a lot of children in casting, but I chose Luna Garret, that I saw growing up in my village. I find her to have a very strong presence and I really wanted to work with her. During the casting, alongside the boys, she obviously interacted as she does with her brothers in life.
Maïwène BarthélémyWho’s playing Marie-Lisewas in agricultural BTS when she passed the casting. In addition to her talents as a farmer, she immediately showed an ability to get into the skin of the character with a disconcerting naturalness. She immediately seemed obvious to me for the role. »
The title Twenty gods also has its role to play:
“I chose it the day I discovered how this expression, which is so common in my region, was spelled. I really like this reference to the gods at the heart of the rural world! »
►►► Distribution
A movie by Louise Courvoisier
Storyline and dialogue – Louise Courvoisier et Théo Abadie
With
- Clement Faveau – Totone
- Luna Garret – Claire
- Mathis Bernard – Jean-Yves
- Dimitry Baudry – Francis
- Maïwène Barthelemy – Marie-Lise
- Armand Sancey Richard – Cyril
- Lucas Marillier – Pierrick
- Isabelle Courajeot – Nadine
Comments collected by Anne-Claire Cieutat
Related News :