Birth of a desire at sea, here is a perfect summary for The Passenger, first length of director Héloïse Pelloquet. Taking advantage of an upcoming physical release, it's high time to talk about this solar film...
Seaman's wife, wife of grief
Chiara (Cécile de France, Even with a strong accent), a Belgian expatriate to France to follow her husband, was adopted by the sea and by the small local community of fishermen. Yet the arrival of Maxence (Felix Lefebvre) will disrupt the balance that Chiara developed with his man and will create the spark of desire.
The Passenger is the first long dHéloïse Pelloquet, yet she injects into it what was already the salt of her shorts (Age of sirens, Like a great, Heart side) : maritime landscape, sex salt, seduction, summer imagery. We find this and a little more in The Passenger, whose first strong point is casting. Between professional actors (Cécile de France of course, the fiery and training Félix Lefebvre, Grégoire Monsaingeon) and non-professional (simple inhabitants of Noirmoutier where the film was shot), Pelloquet succeeds in never typing next door.
Tough Actors
Whether it be scenes at sea (Chiara and her husband are crab fishermen) or more erotic segments, the actors are decidedly put to the test. Immersion in the marine environment and its workers has been particularly treated, the gestures seem safe, the carcan of this « old » Love couple more than credible. A credibility that owes a lot to the sound side of the feature, mixing sound design Worked (the sea, the roll, the loosening of rain or wind, the breath of the characters) and a successful music without ever being too supported. In short, the sound makes the film palpable, as does the skillful use of elements that distill an immediate sensuality.
Indeed, the rapprochements between Chiara and Maxence, which the spectator knows inescapable from their first scene of encounter in the film, always accompany a skillful use of the various elements. Whether it is the diluvian rain, soaking the bodies, sticking clothes, making the skin shiny, or on the contrary the fire against which they will warm up, burning the skin of the actors with a flickering red, nature works to create the sensuality that emerges from The Passenger. The eroticism in itself, never vulgar but dared, arrives by often nocturnal projections in the feature film. A lubricated roll where the camera accommodates low lights, draws the grain of the skins that mix, captures the bodies without distorting them.
Adrifted
As for the scenario, we cannot say that The Passenger especially inventive. On the other hand, where the director's vision is interesting, it is in the reversal of the clichés that she imposes on her film. Where the old man/young woman couple remains the standard master of a masculine cinema, Pelloquet totally returns it. While the film of deceit has often taken place in a bourgeois Parisian ecosystem, the director invests the bottom of the Vendée, in an environment of fishermen. Even reversal in the conclusion of the feature film, which we will not divulge but which is envisaged in a solar filming, while it is usually a dull and dramatic cinema trope.
In short, The Passenger Seen as a promise of a career to follow for Héloïse Pelloquet, but also for Felix Lefebvre whose charisma rips off the screen.
An intoxicating film, to be discovered shortly in physical format (DVD) where the director's third short film, Heart side (30 minutes) which was realized in 2018 and announces the theme as the style of The Passengeris offered as a bonus
Data sheet
DVD Zone B (France)
Publisher: Blaq Out
Duration: 93 min
Release date: 16 May 2023
Video format : 576p/25 - 2.39
Soundtrack : French Dolby Digital 5.1 (and 2.0)
Subtitles French
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