A Triumphthe delightful dramatic comedy from the screenwriter and director Emmanuel Courcol (In the name of the Earth, Ceasefire…), is broadcast unpublished this Monday, December 16, 2024 on France 3 at 9:05 p.m. The story of this film, noticed in several festivals, such as in Angoulême, and which was able to be financed thanks to the help of Dany Boon, follows Étienne Carboni (Kad Merad), a theater actor once in demand, but who today struggling to find work. To make ends meet, he resigns himself to leading a theater workshop in a high security prison. Only a handful of inmates show up for the course, which they see more as a fun break. But as Étienne discovers their potential, he begins to dream bigger. After a few conclusive attempts, he decided to stage the famous piece with them Waiting for Godotby Samuel Beckett, to have them performed in a real theater. We still have to convince the prison authorities… Inspired by a true story, this film takes the viewer on a moving, funny and exhilarating human adventure, played by remarkably accurate actors (Pierre Lottin, Sofian Khammes, David Ayala, Lamine Cissokho, Wabinlé Nabié…)
Based on an incredible true story
Emmanuel Courcol chose to set, today and in France, a story that occurred in Sweden in the 1980s. The director discovered it a few years ago, through his producer, who introduced him to a documentary called Beckett's Prisoners. This recounted the adventure of a director named Jan Jönson, who staged the play “Waiting for Godot” in a prison environment. “The show was so successful that they went on tour, until the rather hair-raising ending at the Royal Theater in Gothenburg”relates Emmanuel Courcol in the press kit.
The call of the sea (beware SPOILERS)
There is indeed talk of a “hair-raising outcome”! But let's go back to the beginning of this story. In 1985, actor and director Jan Jönson was asked by the director of the high security prison in Kumla, Sweden, to come and play in front of his inmates. At the end of the performance, some come to congratulate him and ask him to give them acting lessons. Jan Jönson ended up bringing together five motivated inmates to lead these workshops. He suggests that they produce Samuel Beckett's play. A year of rehearsals later, the troupe presented their work at the prison, in front of an audience of three hundred people, partly made up of celebrities. The show is a triumph. Experience comes to the ears of Samuel Beckettwho sends a congratulatory telegram to the director and invites him to meet him in Paris. The troupe then received offers from several theaters in Sweden, and after hesitating for a long time, the prison authorities authorized the inmates to go on tour. During this, the prisoners taste a form of freedom again, and each return to their cell is only harder. When they were invited by the Gothenburg theater, they decided, just before going on stage, to leave. Some will never be taken back!
