The movie Jim’s novel, by Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu, closed the 30th edition of the Cinemania festival on Sunday. Painting a tender and raw fresco of an unexpected authorship that escapes clichés, the cinematic story from Pierric Bailly’s novel will be released in Quebec on Friday.
The film opens with a chance encounter: Aymeric (Karim Leklou), a simple man who lets himself be carried away by the imposed turns of existence, comes across Florence, a former colleague, encountered in another life. She is pregnant and alone.
When Jim, Florence’s son, is born, Aymeric settles into the role of lover and father, without instructions, but with the impulse of the heart, until the biological father resurfaces , seven years later.
Between the French countryside and Quebec, Aymeric loses track of his adopted son. We then follow the man over 25 years of his life, as he accepts everything that fate imposes on him, repressing the pain that he accumulates over time.
Brothers Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu were offered this story without having looked for it. Paternity is a theme that has often run through our films, but not in a sociological way, explains Arnaud Larrieu. And then as soon as we opened the book, we saw the tone, the way the characters speak and how much we feel like we know them. Aymeric is a character who lets himself be carried away by life and who has few desires, which makes him quite realistic.
Quebec, the end of the world
The evocation of Quebec is at the heart of the film. For Aymeric, it is an unattainable place, intimately linked to the departure of his adopted son.
It might have seemed quite simple if our character had been a rich and well-equipped man. But already, if we imagine that it could cost him a month’s salary to take the plane to Montreal, we understand the mountain that this represents and the helplessness in which he wallows and finally comforts himself
says Jean-Marie Larrieu.
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The film “Le roman de Jim” opens with a chance encounter as Aymeric, played by Karim Leklou, comes across Florence, a former colleague he met in another life.
Photo: Élise Jetté
According to Karim Leklou, who plays Aymeric, French films often show characters who want to go to Canada, as if it were a way out of their own society. We find this vein in Jim’s novel. For my character, there are two boundaries: mental and geographical. It really touched me to come to Montreal for the first time, for Cinemania, and this, while making the journey that my character was unable to make.
The power of a simple character
Aymeric is a kind, gentle, attentive character, close to his emotions and constantly letting go of the events that affect him rather than the opposite.
Often, cinema accustoms us to narrative codes where, when something happens for a character, they have an extraordinary reaction.
says Karim Leklou.
For him, the strength of the story lies precisely in the way ordinary
that Aymeric has to go through the events. I immediately liked this character who is resilient, who shows real strength in accepting the place that is offered to him and that is taken back from him.
he adds.
I had never played a role as full of sweetness as this one.
Paralyzed by a feeling of illegitimacy, Aymeric is a character who borders on silence and reveals himself in his stoic reception of drama. I found it to be a great challenge because the scenario is seamless, he says. He’s not necessarily trying to make you cry or anything. It’s a present-day story about a man who has extremely strong wounds and who hides them because that’s all he knows how to do.
The proof we serve is that romance belongs to all life and to all social levels. Deep in the French countryside, through the modest life of this man, there is something great: an epic in the small things.
A story spanning 25 years
A story that takes place over a quarter of a century is complex. A film over 25 years, we had never done it
says Arnaud Larrieu in an interview.
Obviously, not all the years described in the novel could be found in the film. The ellipses are less strong in the novel, it is full of small episodes, explains Jean-Marie Larrieu. The more screenings we did during editing, the more dates we removed, the more voices we removed offbecause basically, the common thread was in the characters, which we followed very well. This allowed us to deconstruct the scaffolding.
The filmmakers were delighted that their film was released in Quebec. All our films have been shown here, so we come regularly and that makes us very happy
enthuses Arnaud Larrieu.
Jim’s novel by Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu will be released in Quebec this Friday, November 22.
