It starts today
It starts today is a 1999 French drama film directed by Bertrand Tavernier .
action
Daniel Lefebvre is the director of the Léo Lagrange pre-school in a city in northern France. The school is in a socially deprived area and many of the children grow up in desolate families. The unemployment rate among parents is high. In turn, the work of the teachers is not only supported by the state: social workers are being cut, while more and more problem cases are to be dealt with. Teachers have to add more and more students to their classes to make up for missing positions. Daniel, on the other hand, always offends his superiors with his energetic actions against the offices and politicians. Among other things, he supports the college in submitting a petition for better teaching conditions. Daniel's own family is only partially a place of retreat from the stress of work: He has lived with the artist Valeria for two years, but the relationship between her son Rémi and Daniel is disturbed. Daniel, on the other hand, has had an ambivalent relationship with his own father since childhood, who never loved him.
One day, five-year-old Laetitia Henry is the last child to be left at school. Her mother, who appears after a long time with a stroller, is seriously drunk, falls in the schoolyard and finally runs away. Daniel stays behind with Laetitia and her little brother. His colleagues advise him to call in the police, but Daniel turns to Kindernothilfe to avoid sanctions for the Henry family. The agent there, however, reacts helplessly and hangs up so that Daniel brings the two children home on his own. Here he finds a desolate household and a drunk mother. He learns that the family has had no electricity in the household for a long time due to debts and that they cannot heat even when the temperature is below zero. In addition, the family cannot raise the money for school meals, which Daniel eventually pays out of his own pocket. He organizes some food and a small alcohol stove for the family.
One morning Daniel finds the school building devastated. All rooms have been soiled, teaching material has been destroyed and electronic devices are missing. It turns out that three children had had a "fun" and Daniel is shocked that Rémi was one of the perpetrators and even got the key to the action. When Valeria confronts her son, he blames her for growing up without a father. With the help of parents and his colleagues, Daniel manages to whip the school into shape in one day. He also gets to know the social worker Samia, who supports him in working with the families. Among other things, she works to ensure that the Henrys receive electricity again quickly and reacts when their salary is to be partially seized. Daniel in turn invites Mr. Henry to show the children his truck, which has a lifting crane. The children are enthusiastic and Mr. Henry also enjoys the unfamiliar activity. Suddenly everything comes together for Daniel: His father collapses and has to be hospitalized. He is also checked for work by an inspector who examines his teaching methods. Although the inspector certifies that he teaches in a way that is suitable for children, he criticizes Daniel's “seditious streak”. When the inspector has left, Daniel reacts abruptly when Mrs. Henry tries to speak to him. She still has no power and was referred to Daniel by another colleague. When he refers her to another colleague, Mrs. Henry leaves without a word. The next day the police found her body and that of her two children - they killed themselves with an overdose of sleeping pills. Daniel is shaken and questions his actions. He would like to give up everything, but Valeria convinces him to keep going. Daniel is still committed to children, such as little Jimmy, who is beaten by his mother's boyfriend. The fact that Jimmy is taken out of the family fuels his parents' hatred of Daniel. Valeria sticks to him in these moments and Daniel finally proposes to her.
Valeria realizes that Daniel's thoughts revolve around a task in his profession. She suggests having a party at school. It should contain a lot of color to make you forget the sadness of the buildings. Together with the residents and parents, they pour sand into the gym, build Bedouin tents from sheets that the children paint, and set up countless bottles in the courtyard that they have filled with colored water. A local band plays, students perform dances, and mothers sell homemade cakes. The children look curiously or shyly into the camera.
production
It starts today and was filmed with students from the Derrière les Haies school in Anzin ( North Department ). Further scenes from the film were shot in the Anzin cemetery. It begins today was premiered on February 16, 1999 at the Berlinale 1999 and was shown in French cinemas on March 12, 1999. On November 25, 1999 it was also released in German cinemas.
synchronization
| role | actor | Voice actor |
|---|---|---|
| Daniel Lefebvre | Philippe Torreton | Peter Flechtner |
| Mme. Henry | Betty Teboulle | Arianne Borbach |
| inspector | Didier Bezace | Bodo Wolf |
| Daniel's mother | Marief Guittier | Gisela Fritsch |
criticism
The film-dienst called It begins today a "touching, cinematic complex reflection on unemployment and the future of a society that is no longer even able to convey the basic forms of interpersonal communication to its children." The main character of Daniel Lefebvre is "moderately idealized ...", whereby the film becomes a "thoroughly realistic plea for responsibility and commitment of the individual". For Cinema was It starts today , "one of those rare films that tell with an urgency, which we can not escape." The mirror was that director Tavernier describe as "passionate anger," as the policy let the weakest members of society in the lurch . The film is more likely to be “an inventory and an appeal”.
Awards (selection)
At the Berlinale 1999 the film was shown in the competition for the Golden Bear . He won the Ecumenical Jury Prize (competition) and the FIPRESCI Prize (competition). Also in 1999, Philippe Torreton was nominated for a European Film Award for Best Actor . At the Festival Internacional de Cine de Donostia-San Sebastián , the film received the Audience Award in 1999 and won the Ecumenical Film Award of the Norwegian Film Festival .
In 2000, Philippe Torreton was nominated for a César in the Best Actor category and received a Prix Lumières for Best Actor . The Spanish Círculo de Escritores Cinematográficos nominated It starts today in 2000 for the award for the best foreign film. The film also received a Goya nomination for Best European Film in 2000 .
Web links
- It starts today in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ It starts today. In: synchronkartei.de. German dubbing file , accessed on March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ It starts today. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ See cinema.de
- ↑ Cinema in a nutshell: It starts today . In: Der Spiegel , No. 47, 1999, p. 284.