A real industrial soap opera that began when the paper mill closed in June 2020, the story of the takeover of Chapelle-Darblay in Grand-Couronne (Seine-Maritime) is about to become a documentary directed by Marianne Lère and entitled “Chapelle-Darblay , they did it ! “. Filming began in May 2021 and wrapped early last summer. And today, crowdfunding has been put online on the Ulule website to raise part of the funds needed to finalize the project.
“In the spring of 2021, I had just finished Long live the work, a two-part documentary for Arte on the evolution of working conditions in Europe through a series of portraits. It was there that I realized that the union question was no longer so present among the workers. And I, who come from a modest background, with an elected communist grandfather who had instilled in me an attachment to collective struggles, that questioned me. I wanted to go further on the subject while also working on the environmental dimension of these fights… And that’s when an economist friend, Thomas Coutrot, told me about Chapelle-Darblay, telling me that it was something was going on…”
A representative of executives associated with two CGT delegates
The documentary filmmaker then decided to go there to meet Arnaud Dauxerre, Julien Sénécal and Cyril Briffault, the last three staff representatives to fight on a daily basis to invent a future for the stationery whose then owner, the group Finnish UPM, above all wants to get rid of. At the time, it was a question of dismantling the machines that still existed to make room and produce hydrogen on the 33 hectares of the site, without continuity with the papermaking vocation of a company that produced 100% recycled paper long before that the circular economy is in fashion.
“I came across three characters that were both very different and complementary, who embodied an ideal that I wanted to film. There was a representative of the executives, associated with two CGT delegates, united beyond the political aspirations of each other. This struggle made economic, environmental and human sense. It struck me in the heart and immediately, without even knowing if they were going to succeed in their quest, I wanted to document this subject by telling this story through their eyes. »
On the side of the trio, it is initially the surprise which predominates. “It was not on our agenda, remembers Arnaud Dauxerre. Above all, we had an objective from which we must not turn away. And, at that time, the factory was far from being saved”. However, little by little, Marianne Lère manages to convince them. “It was his professionalism that struck us first,” continues Cyril Briffault. “She discreetly entered into our daily life and the current quickly passed. A relationship of trust is established and bonds are forged over the days. “I got to know their family, their friends. I even met Julien’s father, a retiree from Chapelle-Darblay, who embodies the family attachment to this factory and whom I asked to testify. »
The Finnish owner prohibits filming in the factory
However, nothing is easy. If several actors involved, such as the Rouen-Normandy Metropolis or Julie Lesage, the mayor of Grand-Couronne, agree to play the game, from June, UPM, the Finnish group, forbids him to shoot in the factory. “It started well. I could only go to the union offices but, thanks to the help of Arnaud and his phone, for example, I was able to recover images of a decisive visit for the future. Another key moment, the promise of the President of the Metropolis, Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol, to exercise the right of pre-emption of his community which marks a turning point in this story.
Because if today the takeover by Veolia, recorded last May, marks the happy ending of this fight, “in the meantime, it was a bit of a roller coaster, with a few ups and a lot of downs”, recalls Cyril Briffault. “But we have always tried to remain ourselves in front of the camera, with our words, the moments of decompression experienced in common. The final result, if all goes well, should hit screens next spring. “We can’t wait to see that,” smiles Julien Sénécal.