Nous, princesses de Clèves (2011)

Director:

Régis Sauder

Writers:

Anne Tesson (original idea)
Régis Sauder

Release Date:

30 March 2011 (France)

Genre:

Documentary

Plot:

Has 1558 anything in common with 2009 ? Have nobles of King Henri III's court anything to do with today's young people from poor neighborhoods...

Plot Keywords:

Baccalaureat | Arab French | Literature | Teacher | Tragic Love

Cast

Abou Achoumi	...	Lui-même
Laura Badrane	...	Elle-même
Morgane Badrane	...	Elle-même
Manel Boulaabi	...	Elle-même
Virginie Da Vega	...	Elle-même
Thérèse Demarque	...	Elle-même
Anaïs Di Gregorio	...	Elle-même
Armelle Diakese	...	Elle-même
Chakirina El Arrif	...	Elle-même
Gwenaëlle Le Dantec	...	Elle-même
Mona M'Tira	...	Elle-même
Cadiatou N'Diaye	...	Elle-même
Albert Nicosia	...	Lui-même
Aurore Pastor	...	Elle-même
Sarah Rashid	...	Elle-même
Sarah Yagoubi	...	Elle-même

Directed by
Régis Sauder

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Régis Sauder
Anne Tesson		original idea

Produced by
Sylvie Randonneix	....	producer
Pierre Watrin	....	co-producer

Cinematography by
Régis Sauder

Film Editing by
Florent Mangeot

Sound Department
Gilles Cabau	....	sound
Cyrille de Canson	....	sound mixer
Alain Mathieu	....	sound

Editorial Department
Luc Coutand	....	color timer

Other crew
Audrey Grimaud	....	press attache
Chloé Lorenzi	....	press attache

Production Companies

• Nord / Ouest Documentaires
• France Ô (co-production)
• Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC) (participation)
• Région Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (support)
• Fonds Images de la Diversité (support)
• Angoa-Agicoa (support)
• Procirep (support)
• Multimed (support)
• Conseil Général des Bouches-du-Rhône (support)

Distributors

• Shellac Distribution (2011) (France) (theatrical)

Other Companies

• Makna Presse  publicity

Also Known As:

"Children of the Princess of Cleves" - International (English title) (festival title)

Runtime:

France:69 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

France:U

Filming Locations:

Arrêt d'autobus Lavéran-Diderot, Marseille, Bouche-du-Rhône, France

Company:

Nord / Ouest Documentaires

Trivia:

Sixty hours were filmed and were reduced to 69 minutes after eight months in the cutting-room.

An exciting pedagogical experience; A brilliant documentary.

What is the aim of education: stooping to the level of some segments of the population considered inferior not to lose them or to raise the students' level of achievement and give the "segments of population considered inferior" the opportunity to find a better place in society? Is the solution chosen by French President Nicolas Sarkozy ( replacing only one out of two teachers going on retirement, increasing the number of pupils per class, making fun of classical studies -symbolized by "La Princesse de Clèves" - presented as irrelevant to the present times) the right one ? In other words, should a country opt for the lowest common denominator of prevailing mediocrity as a basis for the national curriculum or have high ambitions for its youth ? As of the first images of his excellent documentary "Nous, princesses de Clèves" the party its director Régis Sauder sides with is obvious, that of excellence and raised opportunities. His approach is simple and can be summarized the following way: if Nicolas Sarkozy thinks that Madame La Fayette's 1678 novel is of no interest for today's students, let's prove to him how wrong he is: let's film a pedagogical experience conducted by Anne Tesson (a French teacher, also Sauder's life companion) in a Marseille ghetto high school and let's see what happens... Normally, the students (in this case in their final or second to last year of high school) should shrink back in horror from the theme (a repressed love story between a married princess of King Henri III's court and a young noble man) and from the old-fashioned language in which the writer expresses herself. And it is true that these youngsters live in a disadvantaged neighborhood - and not in a luxurious palace ; that they speak some kind of colorful pig-Latin and not the refined but colorless French used by Madame de la Fayette. However, after a few easily understandable reservations, the young volunteers - most of whom the sons and daughters of immigrants - are rapidly caught up in the game, showing interest in the text, playing scenes from the book, taking them up, discovering that the feelings of love and passion of yore echo their current own, that the moral choices the characters are confronted with are the same as theirs (a girl for instance hes been driven to choose between her boyfriend and her grandmother she adores but who rejects their union). All we can hope is that Nicolas Sarkozy (never mentioned but ever present behind the whole project) has seen the film and been able to realize that not all the ghetto people are violent morons, that a great deal of them are sensitive and engaging human beings, worthy of respect.. "Nous, Princesses de Clèves" is one of the best documentaries released lately and a precious complement to Abdellatif Kechiche 's 2003 "L'esquive", which tackled the same theme and with the same talent but in the field of fiction. A top-rate film experience, in which belief in man comes first. The only defect "Nous, princesses de Clèves" really suffers from is its length : it is too short. Only 79 minutes... how frustrating!