CRITIQUE – In front of and behind the camera, Roschdy Zem talks about the trauma suffered by his loved ones after his brother’s accident. A film that rings true, served by a fine cast.
Come on good. Head injury or concussion? Words don’t matter. The result is there: Moussa is no longer the same. He who was gentleness, understanding incarnate, now after a fall he swings his four truths to everyone. The pill is quite hard to swallow. At first, we make excuses for him. He is in the process of divorcing. It’s going badly. The wife gives no more news. The abandoned husband goes out to a club, gets drunk on the dance floor.
Ethylic coma. He won’t recover. His bump on his forehead is just a symptom. The nice senior manager becomes cantankerous, touchy, unmanageable. It had started with a birthday lunch. Between two bites of cake, the brothers and sisters bickered. The conspiratorial son was talking nonsense. We used to. Today he claims that Americans have never been to the moon.
A real liveliness
We knew that Ryad, sports journalist on television, was the most selfish of the tribe, that he thought only of his job. He will be there for his younger brother, take matters into his own hands. Sami Bouajila crosses the screen looking elsewhere, like a stunned boxer. He sleeps all the time, is too lazy to get dressed, drags his broken carcass from the sofa to the bedroom, loses his taste and his memory. He insults his boss, scolds his daughter who wants to go study in Montreal. She takes a slap. Poor Musa.
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We no longer recognize him. His superego has disappeared, the psychoanalysts would say. It poisons those around him. Doctors are looking into his case. They remain puzzled. They ask the patient to rate their fatigue on a scale of 1 to 6. Progress is slow. A vast sadness assails him. He would like to cry. Fortunately, his eldest takes him with him to Normandy. He gets back on his feet. It’s not without trouble.
With Mine, Roschdy Zem, perhaps the best French cinema brings us at the moment, depicts the most everyday of tragedies. His talent seems to flow naturally. This hides a lot of work, a solid dose of modesty and a confidence in fiction without which nothing exists. He wouldn’t be the one picking up Carax at 2 p.m. A dark being in slow motion. It’s not his fault he’s falling apart from the inside. Contrary to what the saying goes, great pains are talkative. The characters are really lively. The sister throws tantrums. She can’t take it anymore. The father sighs. The blood circulates. Maïwenn, who co-signs the screenplay, is a long vine of weariness. She’s not going to continue to cut corners.
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Zem has a Gary Cooper presence, the shoulders of someone you can count on. His film exalts hearts. It rings true. It beats true. One needs to see it. It will amaze you. On a scale of 6, we give it a 5. We will verify that the family is a very beautiful invention. It is impossible to live without it. With cinema, it should be the same.
“Mine”, by Roschdy Zem. With Sami Bouajila, Roschdy Zem, Meriem Serbah, Maïwenn. Duration 1h25.
The opinion of Figaro: 3 out of 4.