OUT OF COMPETITION

Vertiges

Earwig

Lucile Hadzihalilovic
2022 - United Kingdom / France / Belgium - 1h54
int. -12 ans

Screenings : thursday 26 - 9:00 pm - 400 Coups - 5 - presented and followed by a debate with Lucile Hadzihalilovic

In an isolated house, sheltered from the rumblings of a Europe haunted by war, Albert is employed to look after Mia, a girl with teeth of ice. Mia never leaves their apartment, where the shutters are always closed. The telephone rings regularly and the Master enquires after Mia's wellbeing. Until the day he instructs Albert that he must prepare the child to leave…

Lucile Hadzihalilovic grew up in Morocco, where her parents, who were both doctors, had settled in the late 1950s after leaving Yugoslavia and France. In the 1970s in Casablanca, while still a teenager, she discovered Italian comedies and giallos, along with American horror and science fiction films. At 17 she left Morocco for Paris,where she studied at lDHEC (later to become La Fémis) and explored the great variety of cinematic pleasures a city still abounding with cinemas had to offer. Along with Gaspard Noé she founded the production company Les Cinémas de la Zone and produced Carne and Seul contre tous (I Stand Alone), directed by Gaspar Noé, along with La Bouche de Jean-Pierre, a 52-minute film that Hadzihalilovic wrote, directed and edited. Screened in Un Certain Regard at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival, it also won the Best Screenplay Award at Premiers Plans in Angers. In 2004, she wrote and directed the feature length Innocence, based on Frank Wedekind's Mine Haha. The film won the Best New Director Award at the San Sebastián International Film Festival. In 2005, she made Évolution, co-written with Alanté Kavaïté. The film won the Special Jury Prize at San Sebastián. She has also made the short films Good Boys Use Condoms (1998),Nectar (2014) and Denatura (2018) which were screened in several festivals. “The singularity of Earwig comes from Lucile Hadzihalilovic's mastery in translating into sound and images a world which is manifestly different from our own reality, and giving it a viscerally palpable existence. The light, the colour of the sets, the texture of the furniture, the sound of the crystal, the cast-iron cooking range, without forgetting the sound and music score, all contribute to a fascinating alternative reality as she awakens sensations we have forgotten and only feel intuitively”. (Gérard Delorme; Chaos Reigns)

CAST AND CREW

Cast : Paul Hilton, Alex Lawther, Romane Hemelaers, Romola Garai, Peter Van den Begin, Anastasia Robin
Screenplay : Geoff Cox, Lucile Hadzihalilovic
Cinematography : Jonathan Ricquebourg
Sound :
Montagne : Adam Finch
Music : Nicolas Becker, Warren Ellis, Augustin Viard

Production : Petit Film, Anti-Worlds, Frakas Productions

French distributor : New Story