The cicadas are singing, the sun is beating down. The corpse of a wild boar lies in the trailer of a pick-up truck. Hunters, who only speak Corsica, bring him back to a farm, where a teenager, Lesia (Ghjuvanna Benedetti), is invited to methodically skin him. She overcomes her disgust and, armed with a long knife, complies diligently. A man looks at her attentively, proudly, then, when she has finished operating, disappears. The remains of the wild boar remain hanging on a hook. In the background, unchanging hills as far as the eye can see.
Immersion
“The Kingdom”, first film by Julien Colonna, 42, starts strong. We understand that it will be a question of filiation, of transmission. Of a girl and her father, of a special relationship. Lesia knows little about this shadow which lives hidden and watches over her existence from afar.
One day, in the summer of 1995, a man burst in and drove her to a remote villa on a motorbike. For the first time, she joins her father in his hideout, finds him surrounded by his “gang”. Whispers, lurking glances: the viewer discovers this opaque, very masculine world, through the young girl's candid point of view. This immersion is captivating.
Curse of violence
Then a war between clans breaks out. The spiral of crime and revenge is unleashed. The father must constantly change his hiding place. Lesia wants to accompany him. Their escape will be their alliance. A last chance to know and love each other, after years of distance, before an epilogue that we guess is tragic. So goes the curse of violence, as implacable as the Corsican sun. In this second part, slower, less nervous, more intimate, emotion takes over.
To write the screenplay, Julien Colonna sought the help of Jeanne Herry (“Pupille”, “I will always see your faces”) These two forty-year-olds, who will count in French cinema in the coming years, have built a “Kingdom” cruel and heartbreaking.
“The Kingdom”, by Julien Colonna, with Ghjuvanna Benedetti, Saveriu Santucci. Duration: 1:48 a.m. In theaters this Wednesday, November 13.
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