L'Enfant d'en haut
Ursula Meier
13-year-old Simon lives with his elder sister in an industrial Swiss valley. Each day he goes between takes the cable car between the plain and the rich ski resort which overlooks the valley, to steal the equipment of the tourists who come and then sell them off in the neighbourhood. His petty theft means that they can have enough money to live, but Louise has just lost her job and is increasingly dependent on her brother.
With : Léa Seydoux, Kacey Mottet Lein, Martin Compston
Screenplay : Ursula Meier, Antoine Jaccoud, Gilles Taurand
Image : Agnès Godard
Editing : Nelly Quettier
Music : John Parish
Screenplay : Ursula Meier, Antoine Jaccoud, Gilles Taurand
Image : Agnès Godard
Editing : Nelly Quettier
Music : John Parish
Production : Jean-Marie Gindraux
Distribution: Diaphana
Distribution: Diaphana
This second feature by the Franco-Swiss director follows Home, which was fascinating in the original style it adopted of a metaphorical tale. "After making Home, a horizontal film along a motorway, (...) I wanted to make a vertical film governed by the constant movement up and down, between the industrial plain and the ski resort in the mountains". Meier uses the geography of Switzerland to weave together the social relationships between the bottom and the top. Although her new film is similar to the social cinema of the Dardenne brothers, this does not mean that it loses its poetic side. The film won the Golden Bear in Berlin.