The divided village
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The divided village |
| Original title | Mon cher petit village |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German & French |
| Publishing year | 2015 |
| length | 88 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Gabriel Le Bomin |
| script | Eric Eider , Ivan Piettre and Gabriel Le Bomin |
| production | Nekla Films in cooperation with Arte and Südwestrundfunk |
| music | Ivan Beck and Union Spirit |
| camera | Jean-Marie Dreujou |
| cut | Bertrand Collard |
| occupation | |
| |
The split village (original title: Mon cher petit village ) is a German- French comedy film by Gabriel Le Bomin from 2015 . Laurent Stocker and Katja Riemann can be seen in the leading roles . The film is the French contribution to the Tandem - two films project, a topic that aims to promote French - German co-production in the field of television films . The German counterpart is the feature film Day of Truth by Anna Justice .
action
The engineer Antoine Degas worked for the agency for the disposal of radioactive waste (AERA) and is sent by his company in the sleepy French village of Saint-Lassou. Due to the favorable geological features, AERA plans to build a repository for radioactive waste around 500 meters below the village . Degas should advertise the project to the local mayor of the village and convince the inhabitants of the advantages for the village.
But even getting to the village is proving difficult. His navigation device does not find the correct way and finally Degas has an accident when he has to avoid a herd of cows . The farmer Florian helps Antoine recover his car. It turns out that he is the husband of Mayor Anna. This wants to develop their village ecologically and in the future supply it with completely renewable energy . She is of German origin, but took on French citizenship in order to be elected mayor of the small village. Florian also has an engineering degree. He moved to the village for Anna's sake and lost his job a few years ago. Since then he has been helping his wife, who, in addition to her work as mayor, looks after a farm.
Anna is horrified when Antoine tells her about the AERA's plans. However, he did not let himself be deterred and began to gradually attract the residents of the village to his side with charm and a lot of money. For example, he promises the bar owner Gérard that he could expand his pension when the AERA engineers come to explore Saint-Lassou in the future. He buys a lamb from another couple for 300 euros and also promises them rosy times. Anna comes under more and more pressure. With the help of her friend, the village doctor Sandrine, she organized a demonstration and started a petition against the project. But she has to realize that more and more residents are being tempted by the advantages that AERA brings with it through its influence and high capital resources: Antoine has an event room renovated and manages to reopen the long-closed village school within a week - Anna had fought in vain for five years for this. And her husband also turns away when Antoine promises him a job at AERA.
The pressure on Anna increases when the geologist Elisabeth joins Antoine. Together they inspect an old tunnel and inform the population about the planned construction work. Anna doesn't know what else to do and, with the help of Sandrine, resorts to a trick. She gets some empty barrels that had previously contained fertilizer . The two women put up warning notices about radioactivity , soiled the barrels and deposited them in the old tunnel. The barrels are then discovered “by accident” and the two women make the residents believe that AERA had secretly disposed of them there 40 years ago. The mood seems to be turning against Antoine, but he gets behind the ruse and confronts Anna in front of the villagers. Anna wants to give up her position and is desperate, but her husband turns to her again. And Antoine also recognizes the beauty of the village. When he saw the first construction plans for the AERA, he discovered that large areas of land were being built over. He begins to doubt the purpose of his mission.
As luck would have it, on the very day when the energy minister wanted to make a declaration on the planned final storage facility, the outdated power distribution board in the area caught fire due to a malfunction and was destroyed. The minister believes that this was a concerted action by opponents of nuclear power and initially refrains from his plans to build the repository at this point. The villagers are without electricity for a few days but are making the best of the situation. They celebrate by candlelight with the thawed food from the freezer a feast, at which Antoine celebrates with Anna. He tells her that he has been fired from AERA because he has not succeeded in implementing the company's plans. He is also planning to move to the village with his partner .
In the last shot you can see Antoine driving his car across the country in a good mood. Another vehicle comes towards him, in which his successor is supposed to continue pursuing AERA's plans. He also fails due to the faulty navigation.
criticism
The television magazine TV Spielfilm criticizes that “veteran Gorleben fighters ” might find the film “too nice”. Nevertheless, she recommends the film as "easy fun with a little depth of field". Tilmann Gangloff from the Stuttgarter Zeitung praises the acting performance of comedian Laurent Stocker in the role of Antoine. He also welcomes the “big and small stories on the edge”. As an example, he cites that the residents have to go to the village cemetery to make a phone call with a mobile phone in order to have sufficient reception (the mayor had the radio mast placed in the neighboring forest for fear of radiation exposure).
background
Arte has set itself the goal of improving the co-production of television films between France and Germany. To this end, topics are filmed from the point of view of both countries in order to reveal differences, but also similarities in the points of view. The film Day of Truth marks the beginning. It aired on Arte on January 8, 2015. Atomic energy was chosen as a common theme in order to address the largely different attitudes of the populations of both countries. Arte Vice President Gottfried Langenstein resolved the supposed contradiction with the question: "[What] ... could be more promising for an exciting film story than contradicting situations and characters?"
Vicky Krieps plays a geologist in this film. In the German counterpart, she can be seen as an investigative public prosecutor , as does the main actor Laurent Stocker in a supporting role as a nuclear engineer.
Web links
- The cleaved village in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Day of Truth ( Memento of the original from January 9, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Arte website, accessed January 8, 2015.
- ↑ The Split Village , TV Spielfilm website, accessed on January 10, 2015.
- ↑ When the neighbor is energized , website of the Stuttgarter Zeitung of January 8, 2015, accessed on January 10, 2015.
- ↑ Tandem - Double Game , an article by Jan Freitag for ARTE magazine, arte website, accessed on January 8, 2015.
