Eden Levi-Bell Pair
From preview to preview, the film “The Pianist’s Choice” receives a very favorable reception from a large audience, most recently as part of the “Cinéma en fête” event in Elbeuf. We discovered this excellent historical drama, directed by Jacques Otmezguine, during the Francophone Film Festival in Angoulême. The general delegates of the festival, Marie-France Brière and Dominique Besnehard, as true gold miners, accustomed us to the nuggets of the 7e art. The historical drama presented by Mazel productions is one of these beautiful cinematographic encounters.
“The Pianist’s Choice” tells us in three periods the journey of François Touraine, a piano virtuoso: before, during and after the Second World War.
In reality what we see during 1 hour 46 could be summed up by the formula “how life will regain its rights”. Of course, it will be about the Shoah and the fate of the Jews during this disastrous era, of course, we see the same struggle for life which is repeated again and again, from the pharaohs, through the Inquisition to on October 7, of course the triple miracle occurs: resilience, resistance, resurgence.
The director’s intelligence is to have entrusted the role of witness to the persecution to a non-Jew, François Touraine. The candid hunk offers us an almost neutral mirror. He knows that Rachel, his piano teacher, the woman he loves, is Jewish. “So what?” » he said to himself.
Hitler’s Germany and collaborationist France will take charge of bringing the naive back to reality. Great History makes no concessions to love. Rachel is just a Jew,… “one among others” will say Thérèse, François’s sister-in-law, the excellent Marie Torreton. But he doesn’t care, François, he will see his fight through to the end.
History sometimes errs on changing times, it’s not always clear. There are also characters who grow while others do not age, let’s say that we are not all equal before nature.
The plot is impeccable, as is the casting. It is true that Jacques Otmezguine has excellent instincts. In his previous films, he was able to rely on little-known artists like Vincent Lindon, to whom he offered his first main role, Gaspard Ulliel whom he, so to speak, discovered, or even Lisa Martino.
“The Pianist’s Choice” focuses on the younger generation: Oscar Lesage, Zoé Adjani and Pia Lagrange. The trio keeps the distance and the pace. Each in its own register accompanies the viewer through the twists and turns of the human soul. The work, which is filmed close to the characters, offers them subtle nuances.
Jacques Otmezguine also called on the sure values of the profession. Philippe Torreton always impeccable, who plays his role with extreme accuracy, André Manoukian unrecognizable, playing Paul Paray or the incredible Andréa Ferréol who graces us with a few words in Yiddish.
The last heroine of the film is music. Omnipresent, she is the cement in the lives of François, Rachel and Annette. The original soundtrack composed by the Franco-Ukrainian pianist Dimitri Naïditch is worthy of this great film.
Launched in 5 packed rooms by the Francophone Film Festival in Angoulême, “The Pianist’s Choice” reminds us what beautiful cinema is, the one that takes its time to tell us something.
Release date France: 01/08/2025
Distribution France : Destiny Films
