OPENING NIGHT |
OPENING NIGHT REVIEWS There are many ways to make visible people or situations that the rest of the world does not want to see. “The Invisibles” chose the gentle way, it is tremendously effective (...). Thomas Sotinel – Le Monde A social chronicle full of humor and hope that pays tribute to the women society has cast aside, as well as to those who help them. Claudine Levanneur – aVoir-aLire A touchingly true chronicle of France’s female underclass. [A]s a warm character study in a very cold place, “Invisibles” works on its own terms, offering up genuine glimpses of hope in the mere fact that it exists at all. Jordan Mintzer – Hollywood Reporter The chronicle of a luminous civil disobedience that doesn’t fall into the traps of sentimentality, or the conciliatory outcome. Jordi Costa – El Pais |
WATCH THE TRAILER! Envol (meaning “taking flight”) is a homeless day shelter for women in the bleak north of France. It is run by women: Manu (Corinne Masiero, who was unforgettable as a woman living out of her car in Louise Wimmer – SFFF 2013), Audrey (Audrey Lamy), and Angélique (Déborah Lukumuena). They are assisted by a volunteer, the posh, soon-to-be-single, and naive Hélène (Noémie Lvovsky). They genuinely care for the women who line up at the gates every morning. The shelter offers a warm shower, a hot meal, camaraderie, and counseling. But the city declares that Envol is not helping enough women get off the streets. It is not profitable and the decision is brutally final: Envol will close in three months. Audrey, Manu, and the others decide to make the best out of these three months, and do whatever it takes to help their girls one last time. And that includes bending the rules. The shelter becomes a kind of boot camp for reintegration, with the social workers clandestinely allowing the women to sleep there overnight and training them in the day to become confident and functioning members of society. Invisibles successfully mixes comedy with a documentary approach. Real-life homeless women portraying themselves with humor star in the film. That includes Adolpha van Meerhaeghe. Like the woman she portrays –Chantal, maybe the most memorable character of the film – she used to sleep outside the Lille train station and served time in prison for killing her violent husband. Actress Corinne Masiero herself, now the star of one of France’s most popular TV crime drama series, Capitaine Marleau, openly talks about being homeless in her twenties. Director Louis-Julien Petit spent a year volunteering in women’s homeless shelters, saying that he wanted to get the tone of the film right: “I had a lot of preconceived ideas but when I was in the shelters, what I found was people who were just like me.” Released last January, at a time when social injustice was front and center in France with the “Gilets Jaunes” protests (don’t miss the documentary J’Veux du soleil, playing at the SFFF this year), Invisibles was a huge hit. The SFFF is proud to open its 18th edition with this sensitive, feel-good comedy on a topic that is also very timely right here in Sacramento. Shown with SORORAL by Frédéric Even & Louise Mercadier
CREST THEATRE - OPENING NIGHT |
