ABefore going behind the camera, Emmanuel Courcol made himself known as a screenwriter, notably for the director Philippe Lioret with whom he had collaborated on “Welcome”, where Vincent Lindon played a lifeguard giving lessons to a migrant, in the hope that he will cross the Channel. From this experience, the filmmaker has retained his taste for bringing together environments which, at first glance, seem the opposites of each other. This was the case with “A Triumph”, which allowed Kad Merad to play an actor responsible for leading a workshop in prison on “Waiting for Godot” by Samuel Beckett. This time, still in this approach, the artist skillfully puts a Parisian conductor in contact with a provincial trombonist.
“Reconciling things is in my nature. This involves an absence of judgment and the refusal of any hierarchy between the characters”
In the shoes of the maestro, Benjamin Lavernhe. Suffering from leukemia, he sees his bright future collapse. Hope is reborn when he learns that he was adopted… and that he has a brother, raised in more modest conditions, in the north of France. This school canteen employee, played by Pierre Lottin, also has a taste for music and would be the only compatible bone marrow donor. The first contact between them is cold. However, the feelings of guilt and jealousy experienced by both are quickly swept away by the storyline, which will try to determine how these two worlds can coexist and enrich each other.
Complementary duo
“Reconciling things is in my nature,” explains the filmmaker. This requires an absence of judgment and the refusal of any hierarchy between characters, social practices or even musical tastes. In writing, we take care to avoid clichés. Take the conductor: it would have been easy to make him unbearable, even ridiculous. But I always try to highlight the human aspect. » The casting follows the same logic, since it brings together one of the figures of the Comédie Française, Benjamin Lavernhe, and an actor revealed in “Les Tuche”, Pierre Lottin. On paper, they do not come from the same “artistic family” but the duo turns out to be perfectly complementary and quickly finds the right rhythm.
Among the influences, we sense Emmanuel Courcol’s taste for British comedies like “The Full Monty”, which take place in difficult social contexts. In “En fanfare”, solidarity is king, but the faces are marked by the cold, precariousness and the announced closure of a local factory. On this subject, the main person concerned specifies: “We live in a society marked by significant social divisions. Situating this story in the North, a territory imbued with working-class history and solidarity, was a way of evoking these issues without being frontal. It was almost a duty to talk about it… If I hadn’t, I would have felt a sense of betrayal. » A saving awareness for this musical “drama” which brings balm to the heart.
“En fanfare”, by Emmanuel Courcol. With Benjamin Lavernhe, Pierre Lottin, Sarah Suco. Duration: 1 hour 44 minutes. In theaters this Wednesday, November 27.
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