After Ceasefirein 2016, and A triumph, a film about the prison world, Emmanuel Courcol addresses in his new feature film the question of the social determinism of genetic inheritance in a dramatic comedy carried by a duo of actors who work to their full potential. Benjamin Lavernhe and Pierre Lottin play two brothers whom life has separated, and whom the chances of life bring together. A fanfare hits theaters on November 27.
While he is in rehearsal, the great conductor Thibaut Desormeaux (Benjamin Lavernhe) feels unwell. The diagnosis falls: suffering from cancer, he needs a bone marrow transplant to survive. During a compatibility test with his little sister, he learns that he was adopted, and at the same time that he has a brother, Jimmy (Pierre Lottin), who grew up in the north of the France, in a much more modest environment than him. Jimmy is a trombonist in the local factory brass band, which is about to be liquidated…
With this new feature film, Emmanuel Courcol sets out to explore the old question of cultural and/or genetic heritage in the destiny of men. Thibaut and Jimmy clearly both have an aptitude for music. For the first, it was easy to cultivate this talent, with the help and encouragement of his bourgeois family. He became a great conductor and composer in his spare time.
For Jimmy, who passed from homes to foster families before being adopted by Claudine (Clémence Massart), a loving woman who allowed him to find balance, the path was steeper. If the passion for music brings them together, the reunion is not as idyllic as Thibaut might hope.
What would have become of Jimmy if he had been adopted by Thibaut's family, and vice versa? Who actually has “drawn the right number” ? Can we make up for lost time and reverse the curve of destiny? These are all the questions that the film asks. Here are added the musical dimension and an economic and social context not only serving as a setting, but nourishing the subject and the dramaturgy of the story.
The film puts the spotlight on municipal bands and brass bands, these ensembles which allow everyone to practice music. A very vibrant tradition in rural areas of the north and east of France. Presented at Cannes Première at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, the film gave the members of L'Harmonie Municipale des Mineurs de Lallaing (North), who play their role in the film, the opportunity to walk the famous red carpet.
The film also explores the weight of family secrets and lies “which gnaws and kills”. But it is above all fraternity (already discussed in Ceasefire)and this fragile bond that is woven between the two brothers magnificently played by Benjamin Lavernhe and Pierre Lottin, and the emotion that they transmit, which carries us away.
The director plays on the simplicity of the motifs, like in a tale, to better serve his story. But a scenario without simplification allows the film to avoid clichés. “Close to the characters”as they confide in an interview with franceinfo, Pierre Lottin and Benjamin Lavernhe have found a working complicity which offers a beautiful palette of nuances to this antagonistic duo which could easily have turned into caricature.
The film also strikes a delicate balance between drama and comedy, in the vein of British social cinema. The magic happens thanks to a rhythmic staging, really tasty dialogues and a magnificent cast, in which we find around Benjamin Lavernhe and Pierre Lottin, Sarah Suco and Jacques Bonnaffé, in the fanfare, with the bonus of Ludmila Mickaël and Clémence Massart as adoptive mother figures in two completely different genres.
Genre : Comedy
Director: Emmanuel Courcol
Actors: Benjamin Lavernhe, Pierre Lottin, Sarah Suco
Pays : France
Duration : 1h 43min
Sortie : November 27, 2024
Distributer : Diaphana Distribution
Synopsis : Thibaut is an internationally renowned conductor who travels the world. When he learns that he has been adopted, he discovers the existence of a brother, Jimmy, a school canteen employee who plays the trombone in a marching band in the north of France. Apparently everything separates them, except the love of music. Detecting his brother's exceptional musical abilities, Thibaut makes it his mission to repair the injustice of fate. Jimmy then begins to dream of another life…
