Des filles en noir (2010)

Director:

Jean-Paul Civeyrac

Writer:

Jean-Paul Civeyrac

Release Date:

3 November 2010 (France)

Genre:

Drama

Plot Keywords:

Concert | Suicide | Cell Phone | Suicide Attempt | Classroom

Cast

Elise Lhomeau	...	Noémie
Léa Tissier	...	Priscilla
Elise Caron	...	Martha (as Élise Caron)
Isabelle Sadoyan	...	Sonia
Roger Jendly	...	Tony
Thierry Paret	...	Alain
Aurore Soudieux	...	Isabelle
Yuliya Zimina	...	La professeure de musique (as Youlia Zimina)
Christine Vézinet	...	Mme Schaeffer
Jérôme Derre	...	L'inspecteur
Robinson Delacroix	...	Clément
Brice Fazekas	...	Sam
Valérie Duhamel-Manns	...	La première infirmière (as Valérie Duhamel-Manns)
Ilyasse Zaki	...	Le joueur de foot
Renan Carteaux	...	Marc
Sandra Macedo	...	La gardienne
Simon Delétang	...	M. Torres, le prof de français
Tom Le Squer	...	Elève
Hélène Dubouchaud	...	Elève
Sophie Nika	...	Elève
Anaïs Delotterie	...	Elève
Mounia Raoui	...	Sherifa
Axelle Bozler	...	La caissière
Elias Achkar	...	Policier
Fabien Orcier	...	Policier
Farida Mazouni	...	Policière
Claire Cathy	...	La femme d'Alain
Yordan Goldwasser	...	Jérôme
Simone Tompowsky	...	Chloé
Lyès Salem	...	Le docteur
Camille Rutherford	...	Gaëlle
Gisèle Torterolo	...	La 2e iinfirmière
Herbert Stritmatter	...	L'homme sur le banc
Nathalie Eno	...	Musicienne
Laurent Lacotte	...	Musicien
Antoine Mathieu	...	Musicien
Guillaume Verdier	...	Musicien
Benjamin Lévy	...	Le chef d'orchestre

Directed by
Jean-Paul Civeyrac

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Jean-Paul Civeyrac

Produced by
Philippe Martin	....	producer

Cinematography by
Hichame Alaouie		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Louise Narboni

Casting by
Kadija Leclere
Sarah Teper

Makeup Department
Raphaële Thiercelin	....	key makeup artist

Production Management
Stéphanie Delbos	....	unit manager
Christophe Demigne	....	assistant production manager
Antek Graczyk	....	assistant unit manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Nadège Catenacci	....	second assistant director
Thomas Longuet	....	first assistant director

Art Department
Léonard Bardotti	....	assistant art director

Sound Department
François Méreu	....	sound engineer
Sébastien Savine	....	sound engineer
Stéphane Thiébaut	....	sound engineer

Special Effects by
Grégoire Delage	....	special effects supervisor
Charles-Axel Vollard	....	special effects technician

Camera and Electrical Department
Lucie Adalid	....	second assistant camera
Rufi Benjamin	....	additional second assistant camera
Carole Bethuel	....	still photographer
Philippe Bordelais	....	steadicam operator
Laurent Bourgeat	....	gaffer
Arthur Chassaing	....	second assistant camera
Cyril Colmant	....	grip
Arnaud Dutarte	....	best boy electrician
David Padilla	....	key grip
Nicolas Rapin	....	electrician
Pietro Rosso	....	electrician

Casting Department
Sophie Bonnin	....	extras casting assistant (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Christophe Bousquet	....	color timer

Other crew
Christophe Demigne	....	logistics

Production Companies

• Les Films Pelléas
• Rhône-Alpes Cinéma (co-production)
• Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC) (participation)
• Région Rhône-Alpes (participation)
• Centre Images (support)
• CinéCinéma (participation)
• Banque Postale Image 3, La (in association with)

Distributors

• Les Films du Losange (2010) (France) (theatrical)

Also Known As:

"Young Girls in Black" - International (English title)
"Dziewczeta w czerni" - Poland (imdb display title)

Runtime:

85 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Filming Locations:

Orléans, Loiret, France

Company:

Les Films Pelléas

Topical examination of French youth culture, quite polished

I think that Jean-Paul Civeyrac is one of French cinemas undiscovered treasures (a line that festival devotees bandy round a lot), although I don't think this film in particular is going to offer immediate pressing evidence of that although I found it was pretty good.

Civeyrac by his own admission is hugely influenced by Symbolism and often you can find references to ancient myth or classic literature in his work. What he does though is vary the overtness and level of symbolism in his films. À travers la forêt, for example, which I think is a great movie, is full of references to Racine and classical mythology/dramaturgy and has the potency of a Sophoclean tragedy. But with Young Women In Black he's very much upped the level of realism. Whilst there are references to Heinrich von Kleist these are mostly realistic, young Gothic women do actually read stuff like that. On the way to see another film last night I even saw a young gentleman reading Kleist on the tube. He's a writer that those who wish to dissociate from zeitgeist tend to gravitate towards.

In the Q&A following the screening Civeyrac was keen to play down the level of influence that he'd had from Jean Cocteau, although, for example, it's quite clear in À travers la forêt (cf. Orphée), and he later went on in the same Q&A to refer to Les Enfants Terrible as perhaps a cinematic forbear of the relationship between the two leads in the film.

To the stuff of the film itself, we have two young Goth ladies (Noémie and Priscilla) who have become extremely disillusioned with life, making many of the classic mistakes of youth, for example dating the cutest yet nastiest and most manipulative person you can find (definitely the "nice guy comes last" phase of life!). They are convinced that they are not loved although they clearly are. On their mephitic bedroom floors you can find strewn Doc Martens and other detritus, on the walls death-inspired doodling (a girl on a swing on one side of a tree, a hanged man suspended from the other side).

They are at heart quite interesting gentle people, and yet they aren't able to see any of the beauty in life. I think my favourite symbol of this is when Priscilla casually boots a board of Lalique chessman tinkling all over the floor. Later a scene of tragedy is framed by the wonderful flowers of Noemie's grandparents' garden. The old folk have learnt that the only beauty you get out of life is that which you cultivate yourself.

Familiar teenage conversations abound, the two girls are sat in a café and look at slightly sad-eyed middle-aged men claiming "il est foutu" (he is a goner), as if they have some sort of special insight into the lives of the people they see, that a glance reveals all. Whilst it is true that life can be excessively cruel to some people, and that their tragedies go largely unnoticed, there is no particular reason that such needs to be the case for these two girls, who are pretty and fairly bright. They don't see the point in school, why study to be unemployed, or to work and be exploited or an exploiter. There is a dark pessimistic paranoia to most of their conversations, which always nonetheless contains some grain of truth.

The genesis of the movie is relating to a recent spate in France of dual suicides by young women or girls (don't worry that is not a spoiler for the movie!). I think Civeyrac wanted to explore the folly of that. Audience members were concerned that it wasn't a responsible movie, but I totally refute that and I think they missed the point big time in what was a strange Q&A at the London Film Festival. A highlight for me is perhaps a recital of a Bach flute Partita for Solo Flute in C Minor.