Tatami, The Score, In His Image… Films to watch this week

Tatami – To have

Drama by Zar Amir Ebrahimi and Guy Nattiv, 1h43

On the bus, there are only veiled women. They are athletes. They are Iranian judokas. Direction Tbilisi where the world championship is taking place. Leila intends to bring back a gold medal from Georgia. She is there for that. She wins, fight after fight. A problem arises: it is serious. She risks facing an Israeli rival. It is out of the question. The authorities of her country order her to give up. She only has to cheat, to fake an injury. Stubborn refusal of the person concerned. This does not suit Maryam, her trainer, who sees a squadron of reprisals descend on her. The two women oppose each other. In rage, the young woman smashes her forehead against a mirror. This is not the only suspense that underlies this film of a passion, an intensity, an intelligence that knocks you to the mat. In Tehran, the family she communicates with via WhatsApp is panicking. She won’t budge. This case of conscience is eating her up from the inside. Fear sets in. The threat lurks. A government emissary is dispatched to the scene. Leila stands up, resists, removes her headscarf in the face of the world. Actress Arienne Mandi is this bundle of nerves, a concentrate of rebellion. She is Joan of Arc with a black belt. The dream comes at this price. Freedom is paid for with challenges. Tatamias Raging Bull was shot in ashen black and white. Slow motion is not uncommon. This anti-Rocky (although) will drag all hearts after him. Courage is in the spotlight. It is terribly photogenic. Behind the camera, the Franco-Iranian actress from Nuits de Mashad, Zar Amir Ebrahimi (she plays Maryam here) and the Israeli director Guy Nattiv are up to their subject. They win hands down. E.N.

Also readOur review of Tatami: Politics on the carpet

The Partition – To have

Drama by Matthias Glasner, 3 hours

In the Lunies family, I ask for the parents. They are at the end of their rope. We know that old age is a shipwreck. Matthias Glasner hides nothing from us. The first sequence is not recommended for sensitive souls. The mother forgets herself under her. She has cancer. The father goes out naked on the stairs of their residence. Parkinson’s disease has not spared him. The son, now. Paul, forty years old, is a conductor. There is something soft, unfinished about him. He has done everything halfway, a part-time lover, 50% father, intermittent brother. His affair with a cellist could hardly be attached to the word love. A certain grayness bathes the days and nights. We must talk about the sister. A number, that one. This dental assistant multiplies catastrophic encounters and monumental binges, one being undoubtedly the consequence of the other. She is a blonde tornado. What idea does Lissy have to fall in love with a married man! Yes, but this big teddy bear shares her taste for strong alcohol. The picture is chilling. Constructed in five chapters, this family chronicle is filmed with clenched jaws. They have the same name and they have never loved each other. Their family tree is a field of ruins and lies, a repertoire of failures and incompatibilities. The film is harsh, rough, of a bottomless darkness. It lasts three hours and does not smile at anyone. The reference to Bergman is not in doubt. E.N.

Also readOur review of The Partition: Scenes from Family Life

In his image – We can see

Drama by Thierry de Peretti, 1h53

Corsica, land of cinematic adventures. After the excellent Borgowith Hafsia Herzi as a prison guard, before The Kingdomportrait of a mafia boss’s daughter, and The Mohicanmanhunt of a rebellious shepherd, the island is the central character of‘In his image. Thierry de Peretti returns to it tirelessly. Adapted from the novel by Jérôme Ferrari, his fourth feature film, presented at Cannes at the Quinzaine des Cinémathèques, is also a political chronicle of Corsica from the 1980s – twenty-five years pass between the beginning and the end in the book, fifteen years in the film. The point of view is slightly shifted here. Antonia falls in love with Pascal, a young nationalist activist who is no longer content to sing Corsican songs against the murderous French state during concerts. The archives take care of the historical events that lead Pascal behind bars: the Bastelica-Fesch affair, the double homicide in Ajaccio prison, the death of Robert Sozzi, the split within the FLNC… Each time her partner is imprisoned, Antonia is lectured by her parents and learns photography. She works for Corsica-Morningcovers the press conferences of FLNC activists, with weapons and balaclavas. Thierry de Peretti films from a great distance, using a single sequence shot most often, and entrusting the voice-over with the task of filling in the gaps or highlighting the issues, at the risk of lapsing into a certain didacticism. His characters are silhouettes. The filmmaker strips the armed struggle of all romanticism. His heroes represent a Corsican youth that is as politicized as it is devitalized and idle. E.S.