the review of a film with talent at Le Carré

The synopsis

Because she feels guilty, because she feels useless, because she is actually feeling bad, Elisabeth takes all the pills from the medicine box. She wakes up at Necker hospital (Paris XIV) and finds herself interned with children her age and pre-teens. Because Elisabeth is 14 years old. She still does not know that the theater will save her life and that, in a few years, she will be a known and recognized actress.

Paris Match review (5/5)

In reality, Elisabeth’s name is Isabelle Carré. In 2018, she told her story in “Les rêveurs” (ed. Grasset), which sold 200,000 copies. Rather than resting on her laurels, she invests herself daily in writing workshops where young people can express and exorcise their distress, their anger, their despair… In short, their uneasiness. Which did not get better with the two confinements! And Isabelle Carré goes behind the camera to put her words and the pain into images in order to convey a little more of the hope and kindness that animate her. The result, in addition to being joyful as are the works that succeed in transforming intentions into reality, is overwhelming.

First, the substance. It touches absolutely everyone: adults because they have all been through teenage life, teenagers because they are at the heart of a subject that has never been addressed so directly. Then, the shape. Built in flashbacks, the film adopts the exclusive point of view of the heroine and this is its prime quality. Thus we discover little by little the why and how of suffering without ever forcing the pathos. On the contrary ! “The Dreamers”, two thirds of which take place in the 1980s, is a feature film resolutely focused on bright tomorrows, where nothing is ever lost, where the field of possibilities is infinite – Isabelle Carré (who plays adult Elisabeth) being living proof of this.

Finally, there is Tessa Jumont Janod, an unknown person in the battalion who should not remain so. It’s her, teenage Elisabeth. Not a false note in his game, any more than there is in that of Mélissa Boros, his unfortunate friend. They have nothing to envy of their prestigious partners: Nicole Garcia, Judith Chemla, Pablo Pauly, Bernard Campan (indissociable accomplice of Isabelle Carré) or even Alex Lutz in the role of the musician big brother. It was Benoît Carré, brother of, who composed the original soundtrack, breaking into a masterful cover of “Our house” by Madness sung by the masters of Radio France. Talent in the Square.

By and with Isabelle Carré
also with Judith Chemla, Tessa Jumont Janod…