Even more than a Shakespeare playThose who blusha web series co-produced by RTS and Arte, offers a captivating spectacle: that of a group taking shape, of individualities taking shape. There is Ulrich, a boss with city phrasing who prefers dribbling to magical comedies; Nicolas, whose clownish streak makes him a perfect target; Kayna, the pretty girl always in control; or even Marie, who would like not to be so transparent, but how?
Imitate your parents
If these characters sound right, they’re not really characters. After a vast casting call involving 2,000 high schools and 100 theater classes, the production constructed the script for the series based on young student actors, who play their own roles here. A series therefore drawing heavily on reality, in particular the tumultuous reality of adolescence.
In charge, Julien Gaspar-Oliveri, who also didn’t need to fantasize too much. The actor and director has theater anchored in his heart since childhood, even if it is a short film, The tender agewhich took him to the Césars in 2020. Both in front of and behind the camera, he breathes crazy intensity into all the sequences, which in themselves are nothing spectacular – he asks the class to inhabit the space , to express their greatest fears, to hug each other… But these parentheses of exposure touch deeply, like when students have to imitate their own parents. A confusing mirror…
Eight ten-minute episodes are not a lot, but enough to open up worlds, where fiction meets documentary and where minimalist staging, in the good sense of the term, lets the human side shine through – sensitive, funny, complex. .
“Those who blush”, a web series by Julien Gaspar-Oliveri (2024) in eight 10′ episodes. To see on Play Suisse.
