Pfor him, life will begin. This late summer day, Louis (Stefan Crepon), 18, leaves the family home in a car filled to the brim with his personal belongings. At the wheel, his father, Pierre (Vincent Lindon), beams. This shaky move is a day of joy. Heading towards Paris, and the Sorbonne, where the serious young man has just been admitted.
Much more turbulent, all fired up, his older brother, Fus (Benjamin Voisin), barely older, runs madly after the car, like a kid, to express his emotion, his pride, his encouragement to this younger brother of whom he is both so close and so different. The vehicle moves away little by little. And he stays at the dock, in front of their house. Without bitterness, he loves his brother too much for that. But we feel in this shot of a few seconds that Fus, who is struggling to find his feet in life, will not have the same chances of emancipating himself.
Everything for his sons
Since the early death of their mother, Fus and Louis have lived in a suburb of Metz with their father, who dedicated his life to their education. This railway worker works at night, installing electrical equipment on the railway tracks. We see him advancing, with his torch, his helmet, in construction sites plunged in darkness. Methodically, courageously, as in life. He seems to have made it his duty to repair this injustice for his children: the absence of a mother. His build is like a protection, a shelter for them.
We can guess that Pierre, a trade unionist, would place his beliefs more on the left. But he prefers mobilizations to theorizing and speaks little about politics.
His life is his two sons, Louis, reasonable, and Fus, joyful, incandescent. Mysterious too. Pierre perceives in him a distance, absences, is worried about some of his associates, guys with shaved heads at the stadium, on match nights, or his pre-prepared remarks about “civilizations”, “wildness”.
Little by little, he understands that Fus has secretly entered another world, that he has become closer to small identity groups. How far will he go in this extreme activism? What attitude should Peter adopt? To understand ? Fight? Convince ? Break up?
-Pierre (Vincent Lindon) and his two sons, Louis (Stefan Crepon) and Fus (Benjamin Voisin).
Curiosa Films
France today
The film was originally going to be called “Ultra”. It is very anchored in contemporary France, its fractures, even within families. Music, pop, electro, reminds us that we are indeed in the 2020s.
Sisters Delphine and Muriel Coulin, for whom this is their third feature film, have chosen a realistic, documentary approach. But, this is the strength of the film, the story arouses real empathy for the character of Fus, for his vulnerabilities. No complacency on their part for his actions, but the portrait of a lost boy, crushed by the feeling of not being up to this adored father and brother. Benjamin Voisin, César for best male hopeful in 2022 for “Lost Illusions”, embodies him with vitality and melancholy: he bursts the screen.
“Playing with fire”, by Delphine and Muriel Coulin. Duration: 1 hour 58 minutes. Theatrical release Wednesday January 22.
