The Astronaut **
by Nicolas Giraud
French film, 1h50
When all the planets align, the dream can finally come true. Like that of actor and director Nicolas Giraud with this film that took him five years to make. And also that of Jim Desforges, his character, an aeronautical engineer who undertakes to build his own rocket to fulfill his childhood dream: to go into space. His candidacy having been refused – the European Space Agency preferred him… Thomas Pesquet –, Jim does not intend to give up the project of a lifetime.
Patiently, for years, he has diverted from the ArianeGroup test center, where he works, the parts necessary to prepare, in the hangar of his farm, the “first amateur manned spaceflight”. With the only support, that of an apprentice chemist met in an aeromodelling club (Bruno Lochet) and his grandmother, interpreted by the wonderful Hélène Vincent. Added to this trio of broken arms, a retired astronaut (Mathieu Kassovitz), still with his head in the stars, and an ambitious young mathematician (Ayumi Roux).
A tale full of imperfections and charm
Everything is improbable in this story of a gentle dreamer who tinkers in his corner with a spacecraft, like Professor Tournesol in Objective moon. But isn’t the essence of cinema to make us believe in the impossible? You have to abandon all rationality right away to get caught up in this tale full of imperfections and charm, which is also a powerful hymn to the realization of your dreams and the power of the collective. The subject may seem naive but in the register of films filled with good feelings, The Astronaut works by poetry emerging from a subject that is in no way formatted.
A perfectionist, Nicolas Giraud put as much heart into making his film as Jim put into building his rocket and manages to combine the greatest possible realism, thanks in particular to the support of ArianeGroup and the advice of French astronaut Jean -François Clervoy, with the romantic element specific to his screenplay.
He embarks with him a troupe of actors that we feel both united and invested in bringing this story of accomplishment to a successful conclusion and making it both credible and moving. And thus nicely demonstrates that there is no need for spectacular special effects to take us to touch the stars.
————-
Nicolas Giraud, actor and director
Nicolas Giraud was born in Saintes (Charente-Maritime) on November 12, 1978.
He started out as an actor in Liberty-Oleron by Denis Podalydès and works a lot for directors David Oelhoffen (Our reunion) and René Feret (Like a star in the night).
He is making a short film Weaknesses in 2009, presented at Cannes at Critics’ Week, before directing his first feature film in 2018, Sunshine in my eyes.