We’re taking you to the cinema on this first day of the year. Next Wednesday, January 1, one of the notable films from the last Cannes festival will be released in theaters in France. It is about Birdthe new feature film by British filmmaker Andrea Arnold. It follows the harsh daily life of a teenager who meets a whimsical and caring man.
Bailey is 12 years old and grows up in a chaotic family context. She lives in a squat in Kent with her father and a half-brother. The father, barely thirty years old, will soon marry a young woman he has known for three months and he intends to take advantage of the supposedly hallucinogenic slime of a toad. Andréa Arnold returned to her native Kent to film these marginalized characters, whom she knows well. But she denies any autobiographical intention. She even summons the French author Gustave Flaubert.
She says “ He said: “Madame Bovary, it’s me“. You know, you always put something of yourself in your writing. But I wouldn’t say that Bailey is a projection of me ».
Incorporating images shot on a cell phone, Bird shows the passage from childhood to adolescence of a rebellious young girl who wants to assert herself and escape from a daily life of social violence and precariousness, as director Andrea Arnold explains:
« Life is not made up of just one color or tone. Even in the most dramatic situations, there can be humor. Life is an alliance of drama and comedy, darkness and light in my films, I want to show the diversity of life in all its forms ».
Far from being a miserabilist social chronicle, Bird tends towards poetry, and even fantasy with the appearance of a mysterious character coming from nowhere, Birdwho will literally take Bailey under his wing.
« The first image that came to me for the film was this character. I didn’t really know who he was, what he represented. It took me a while to understand who it is, but I won’t tell you, because I think it’s up to the viewer to put the puzzle together and make their own interpretation. », relate-t-elle.
Is he a guardian angel? A bird man? The German actor Franz Rogowski lends it his mystery and gentleness.
He explains his vision of the character: “ I didn’t know if it was an angel or a demon. Andrea gave me all kinds of inspiration. I had this image of a naked man in nature. Filming with her was like floating in space, outside of time, and abandoning yourself in a dream that escapes language ».
Carried by an electrifying soundtrack, mixing rap, rock and electro, Bird is a spirited and hopeful portrait of a combative teenager
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