Sunday November 3, 2024 at 9:10 p.m., France 2 broadcasts November, a breathtaking investigation into the attacks of November 13, 2015 in Paris by Cédric Jimenez. By interweaving fact and fiction, the director made people talk about a detail of the film. A detail which, for some, was not a detail.
There are films that crystallize tensions: burning themes, anxiety-provoking climate, actors or directors in turmoil – like the latest release by Roman Polanski, the much-maligned I accuse…The reasons are multiple. And in this game, there is a filmmaker who particularly stands out: it is Cédric Jimenez. This specialist in historical thrillers to whom we owe La French or even Hhhhh likes to stir up the past, and this is not always to the taste of his contemporaries, even if his films are often successes. This is the case of this film that France 2 is broadcasting this Sunday, November 3, 2024 at 9:10 p.m.: Novemberwith Jean Dujardin as an investigator from the anti-terrorist brigade.
Films subject to debate
We remember the great noise caused by the release of his previous feature film, BAC North : during a press conference for the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, an Irish journalist challenged the film team to denounce its vision considered to be a caricature of the suburbs and its pro-police bias. What followed was a lively political debate, in the middle of the presidential season, which earned the project a political recovery denounced by the director. One year later released Novembertense thriller about the attacks of November 13, 2015, in Paris. Once again, Jimenez tackles the recent traumas of France.
The Scarf of Discord
Shortly before the film's release, the media became aware of legal disputes involving the producers of November and a certain “Sonia”. The latter, having truly played a role in the arrest of the surviving terrorists and now living under police protection, protests against her representation on screen. Played by Lyna Khoudri as Samia, we see her wearing a scarf covering her hair. However, the one who calls herself Sonia wants to make it known that she is not veiled in life, and demands the insertion of a banner in the preamble of the film, warning that “wearing the Islamic veil by the character of Samia Khelouf [qui incarne Sonia dans le film] responds to a choice of fiction which does not reflect his personal convictions.“
France
