Le Dernier Mirage
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Le Dernier Mirage |
| Country of production | Tunisia |
| original language | French |
| Publishing year | 2014 |
| length | 90 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Nidhal Chatta |
| script | Nidhal Chatta, Christian Séranot |
| production | Abdelaziz Ben Mlouka |
| camera | Mohamed Maghraoui |
| cut |
Fakhreddine Amri , Seifeddine Ben Salem |
| occupation | |
| |
Le Dernier Mirage is a feature film by the Tunisian director Nidhal Chatta from 2014 , based on his original screenplay in collaboration with the French writer Christian Séranot.
The thriller is a fiction and takes place against the backdrop of the Iraq war in 2003. It begins with the disappearance of a unique manuscript , called The Third Infinite in the film , from the Iraqi National Museum in Baghdad . The manuscript dates from the Abassid period , the Golden Arab Age , and its scientific content is believed to challenge many established ideas as it is irrefutable evidence that the Arab scientists of the time had already developed the theory of the origin of species 10 Centuries before Charles Darwin formulated it. The project was selected at the Open Doors Workshop of the 58th Locarno International Film Festival and had its world premiere at the Carthage Film Festival 2012.
action
The action leads from Baghdad to the south of Tunisia. Dr. Oussama Saad, a prominent Tunisian archaeologist and discoverer of the manuscript, helplessly witnesses the systematic and organized looting of Babylonian art treasures as the war rages across Iraq. He decides to take the manuscript out of the country and move it to a safe place. Wounded by American soldiers, he entrusts the valuable object to his colleague Adnan, a former Iraqi military pilot who flies to North Africa. He also hands him a medallion that is supposed to protect him. Adnan disappears into the night and climbs aboard a small plane. There he briefly opens the locket and the picture of a young girl appears. He puts it in the airplane's pharmacy box and takes off. A few hours later, Adnan's plane crash-lands in the Tunisian desert. The characters meet on the edge of the Grand Oriental Erg.
Inside the Baghdad Museum, the curator is sitting behind his desk and making a phone call. He informs a Dr. Rachid on how the bird took off but things weren't going according to plan and they had to catch it ...
Professor Justin Livingstone, an American biologist who specializes in insects , drives through the shimmering heat of the chott in southern Tunisia. After a car breaks down, he picks up luggage and equipment and starts walking. He comes to a sign: Algeria → 28 km and Borj El Erg → 103 km can be read. When a car rushes towards him, from which a sturdy man springs up and attacks him, Livingstone finds himself left to himself after a search of his luggage and equipment and another powerful blow in the desert sand. Shortly afterwards, in an oasis town near a large salt lake, Inspector Abdallah receives a large caravan of riders from the National Guard. Livingstone comes with the caravan, supported by one of the riders and completely exhausted. He is assigned accommodation and sent to the doctor, who poses as Dr. Rachid before.
When Livingstone visits the inspector to describe his fate, he meets his attacker Lassad as he leaves the office. Livingstone is urged by the inspector to stay calm and avoid the man. It turns out there have been murders in the area recently, allegedly involving Lassad and Dr. Rachid are involved. Abdallah continues to suspect that both of them are involved in smuggling art objects from Iraq. Since Dr. However, Rachid has extensive relationships, arrest is difficult. But Livingstone, too, initially aroused the inspector's suspicions about the murders. When Livingstone explores the city in the evening, he is pursued and threatened by Lassad. Shortly afterwards, Lassad and Dr. Rachid is in a cave full of Babylonian art treasures. The paths of Livingstone and Lassad or Dr. Rachid. Often accompanied by threats or mysterious hints. Livingstone is also the victim of an attempted murder.
For a few months now, Dr. Oussama and his daughter Selima in town. The latter has a love affair with Abdallah, which turns out to be difficult. Abdallah is closed and has flashbacks over and over again that lovingly show him with another woman. Livingstone learned from Selima that she had lived in Iraq for a few years and that her mother died there. Dr. Oussama continues to struggle with what is happening in the Baghdad Museum. He had researched the manuscript for 9 years before the Iraqi government decided to finally transfer this manuscript and other documents from the era of Caliph Haroun Al Rachid to the British Museum to settle a few debts. The idea of seeing the manuscript disappear in this way had become unbearable for Oussama. When Adnan took the manuscript, it was inside a turtle, a robot with a sophisticated mechanism. But for months there has been no trace of either Adnan or the manuscript. When Abdallah suddenly finds a locket that Lassad has lost, things move. The medallion shows Selima as a young girl. Abdallah asks her to explain how Lassad got the medallion. Selima pretends to have no idea.
Livingstone has now got his Jeep back and is doing his studies. Often accompanied by Jafaâr, Abdallah's assistant. When both of them drive into the expanse of the Erg one day, they make a dark spot on the horizon during a rest and follow this discovery. Livingstone runs into an airplane in the middle of nowhere. The pilot is dead, mummified. The medicine box is open, the pilot's papers are in his pockets. Meanwhile in the house of Dr. Oussama puts his hand around the medallion. Concerned about Adnan's whereabouts, Oussama nevertheless refuses to follow Selima's proposal and to confide in Inspector Abdallah. The father doesn't want the policeman on this matter and Selima's relationship with Abdallah doesn't make things any easier either.
Inspector Abdallah starts the investigation. He meticulously examines the aircraft wreck and corpse. As he walked, he picks up a piece of paper with a hole that was caught in a bush. He pocketed it. Although the pilot was not apparently robbed, the aircraft was searched. In the office the inspector takes the paper out of his pocket and asks Livingstone, testing whether he can read in Arabic , what he confirms and deciphered from the paper, "... the turtle is loose, may God forgive me, drawn Adnan ". Livingstone, who immediately suspects Lassad, learns from Abdallah that Lassad is just a puppet of Dr. Rachids is and sometimes an informant whom Abdallah keeps a close eye on. In the meantime, Dr. Oussama revealed his secret to Abdallah, so that the search for the manuscript proceeds more intensively. The area around the aircraft is carefully combed. Dr. Rachid appears there and tries to find out more from Jafaâr, in vain.
Livingstone watches Abdallah and Selima. He notices the intimate relationship between the two. In the following days, Selima accompanies Livingstone to the wreck to take photos, when a sandstorm approaches. They seek protection in the jeep and get closer. At home, Selima prints out the photos, including various ones that show her and Livingstone. When Abdallah visits her, a photo caught his attention. The picture shows parts of the aircraft, the vastness and a little glitter on the horizon . Taken after the sandstorm. Abdallah compares it to a photo taken before the storm and immediately goes in search of the point from which the photo was taken. When he finds the glitter on the horizon, he discovers a Zippo engraved with Adnan's name. There are other small parts. Back in town, Abdallah meets Dr. Oussama, who identifies the small parts as part of the turtle's mechanism. Adnan probably sensed that his end was near. The mechanism jammed and so it was opened by force by Adnan, about 300 m from the wreck. The search radius must therefore be shifted around the location of the Zippo. Abdallah further suspects that as a last resort, Adnan triggered the mechanism to release the robot with the manuscript and then dragged himself back into the wreck to die.
The next day, Livingstone, Selima and Dr. Oussama in Abdallah's office. The latter directs Jafaâr to a specific spot by radio and instructs him to dig. On his knees and with his bare hands, Jafaâr exposes the shell of the turtle and makes a report. The group is on their way. When they arrived at the site, they find Jafaâr lifeless on the ground. When he finally comes to, he reports that he was attacked from behind. The turtle robot has disappeared. Suspicion falls on Dr. Rachid. Inspector Abdallah informs all border units and mounted forces. He wants Dr. Put Rachid before sunset. The hunt begins.
Selima, Livingstone, and 3 other armed riders pursue Dr. Rachid on an impassable mountain path. He steers his car on a serpentine road . The car spits thick black clouds of soot under misfires, so that it has to stop. On the passenger seat is something round, wrapped in fabric. Meanwhile, Lassad is in Dr. Rachid's clinic arrested by plainclothes police. At Dr. Rachid, who inspects his car, holds the group of riders. While Livingstone helps fix the defect in the car, Dr. Rachid takes the toolbox out of the car and accidentally exposes the object in the passenger seat. Selima secretly takes it. The robot turtle is revealed and carefully cleaned in her father's house. Dr. Oussama releases the hidden mechanism and the ornate shell of the turtle opens. Dr. Oussama reaches into it. Empty. They realize that someone is playing a game with them. Meanwhile, Dr. Rachid on the way to the cave of his hoarded art treasures. Happy and proud to have beaten everyone until he realizes that his cloth rag has a simple backpack full of sand and the robot turtle has disappeared. He is already expected at the cave. There is an argument with Inspector Abdallah, who subsequently shoots Rachid.
Later that day, Selima is alone in Abdallah's apartment. She takes an envelope from a box that contains a picture of the woman whom Abdallah keeps haunted. Abdallah comes up and explains to her that this woman died 4 months and 1 day ago. He adds how hard it is to help someone you love die. Selima now understands his behavior a lot better. Livingstone has meanwhile finished his studies. He prepares for his departure to Paris and takes one last excursion with Selima into the desert. Again it crackles between them. Livingstone visits Abdallah later that day. During the conversation he remarks that he would never forget Jafaâr. Livingstone would have learned more about himself through him. He would finally understand what Jafaâr meant by: "Be careful what you wish you could get it!" Both men wish Jafaâr and each other the best. Selima is waiting for Livingstone in his apartment. They end up in bed.
Abdallah sits in his office at night and ponders. Suddenly Jafaâr's sentence comes to mind and he storms off. He is racing after Livingstone at high speed. He, in the service of the American government, escapes in a helicopter and with him the manuscript. Dr. Oussama and Selima have since taken up the pursuit of Livingstone's to Europe. There it comes to the final fight over the manuscript, as a result of which Selima kills her father.
History of origin
Idea and costs
Development of the film began in 2005. From the beginning, according to Chatta, he and producer Abdelaziz Ben Mlouka worked out the idea together. Ben Mlouka expected the budget to exceed 1.3 million dinars as the film includes many outdoor scenes and large sets . There were no foreign co-producers for this Tunisian production . The film received a grant from the Tunisian Ministry of Culture and the International Organization of Francophonie (OIF).
Casting and characters
The casting call went out to both national and international artists. According to Chatta, Jean-Marc Barr agreed to play Livingstone two years before shooting started after reading the script . Barr, known to the audience through his multiple collaborations with Lars von Trier and not least through the lead role in Luc Besson's In Rush of the Deep , was described by Chatta as:
"... complete artist as he is an actor, director, screenwriter, producer and even cameraman."
Ben Mlouka announced about the choice of Barr that he considered it essential to the credibility of the role of the American scientist Livingstone that it be cast with an American actor of this size. For the same reasons, according to Ben Mlouka, the French actress Elisa Tovati was also contacted.
According to Tovati, the role of Selima was cast after an encounter with Chatta in Paris , where he held a casting. He gave Tovati the script, for which she developed a love from the beginning. While Chatta took on the financing of the film, both stayed in contact and continued to develop the role of Selima. According to Tovati, the role appealed to her not least because of the relevance of the topic and the character of Selima, who is a strong, modern and free scientist with strengths and weaknesses, but who also openly accepts her relationship with men. According to Tovati, the character is similar to her.
Hichem Rostom , as an archaeologist and father of the character Selima, is known to an international audience. He also worked with Chatta on his documentary Zero! .
Abdelmonem Chouayet, as Inspector Abdallah, embodies the role of an astute policeman. At the time of the casting, Chouayet had previously appeared in films such as Bastardo by the Tunisian director Néjib Belkadhi. He later worked with Chatta again for his film Mustafa Z , for which Chouayet has received international awards for Best Actor.
The role of Dr. Rachid, a manipulative, evil and treacherous doctor, is played by Lotfi Dziri. This Tunisian actor is known to the public for films such as La Cité by Kim Nguyen , in which he has worked with Barr. Dziri died before the film premiered. The role of Dr. Rachid is one of his last.
Through the casting, the Tunisian actor Moez Mrabet was found for the role of Jaâfar. Mrabet also works as a director and stage actor. He was director of the Hammamet International Festival in 2017.
Férid Memmich, in the role of the museum curator in Baghdad, has repeatedly played smaller roles in Chatta's films. He has also been working with him as a co-producer for many years. Memmich is no stranger to the Tunisian political landscape. He studied political science in Paris, obtained a bachelor's degree in philosophy from the Sorbonne and was political advisor to the acting president Fouad Mebazaa during his tenure. In 2018, during the lifetime of the late President Beji Caid Essebsi , Memmich was appointed his personal representative at the Organization of Francophonie (OIF).
The actor and author Zoubeir Bornaz played the role of the pilot Adnan. Bornaz also previously worked with Barr and Dziri on the film La Cité . He died on January 13, 2017 after a long illness.
Filming time and locations
The shooting began in late 2009 in several places in Tunisia. According to Chatta, however, these had to be stopped because of the revolution in Tunisia . In 2012, a license to continue filming was granted, which then finally took place in the south of the country.
The National Museum of Islamic Art in Raqqada served as the setting for the scenes in and around the museum in Baghdad. It is located near Kairouan and has housed a collection of Islamic art in a former presidential palace by Habib Bourguiba since 1986 .
Further interior shots of the film were made in Ghar El Melh (Arabic: salt cave), also known as Porto Farina, a coastal city in northern Tunisia.
The team traveled to the south of the country for the outdoor shots. In Chott El Gharsa , near the border with Algeria , was the set for filming the aircraft that pilot Adnan drove with the manuscript to Tunisia. Ong Jmel near Nefta and Degache, north of Tozeur, were chosen as sets. For further filming, a Blackwater helicopter of the Tunisian military was used to film the scenes in and around the Tamerza mountain oasis . The south of Tunisia is known as a film set for many international productions. Star Wars or The English Patient are just a few of them.
reception
The film was only shown in Tunisian cinemas. Nothing is known about box office results.
premiere
The movie premiere of the film took place on 17 February 2014 in the capital Tunis. Director Chatta, producer Ben Mlouka, the main actors Barr, Rostom, Chouayet, Memmich and Mrabet attended the premiere, which was held in front of numerous journalists and other actors and directors of the Tunisian film.
The appearance of the former Tunisian interim president Fouad Mebazaa at the premiere did not go unnoticed by the population. Many people on social media expressed amazement that a president would just mingle with the crowd to see the performance. The ex-president is known to be interested in art and often visits international film festivals, especially in Cannes .
Festival dates and awards
- 2005: official selection at the 58th Open Doors Workshop - Locarno Film Festival
- 2010: JCC Carthage Film Festival Work in Progress honored with Tunisie Telecom Award
- 2012: World premiere in the category “Panorama of Tunisian Cinema” at the Carthage Film Festival
- 2012: Locarno Film Festival - participation
- 2013: Douz Doc Days - participation
- 2014: February, cinema premiere in Tunis
Reviews
"[...] for the quality of the photography, the mastery of the staging, the originality of the motif and its very contemporary appearance"
"A gripping group of actors [...], including Jean-Marc Barr and Lotfi Dziri, who literally blew the screen in the film."
“The film highlights the great landscapes of southern Tunisia and the beauty of the Tozeur region. [...] which are sublimated by sometimes sharp, sometimes short shots with real artistic paintings. "
"The film is not lacking in symbols and winking eyes that remind of the role of the USA and its supremacy over the countries of the Middle East [...]"
"A well-written story for a classic work with its intrigues, emotions and puzzles."
“All of the clichés are connected with one another: sexy girls, adventurers, the twists and turns of series Z […] what a shame, the potential is huge, the result is stunning. The director seems to have finally responded to a commissioned work. The last mirage seems to have been filmed to promote the Tunisian south, the intention is beautiful, the result is thought-provoking [...] "
Director's intention
The director himself said about his motives for making the film:
“It is not my intention to make a film about the war in Iraq. For this film I am not subscribing to what is called 'auteur cinema' in Tunisia. "
Chatta further added:
“I chose the invasion of Iraq as the anchor for my vision. It is also my way of denouncing the massacre of the innocent and the pillage of the heritage and civilization of a great country and a great people. "
Versions
The film is also called The Last Mirage. This is not a dubbed version, but the original version with English subtitles .
Web links
- Le Dernier Mirage in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Production company website
Individual evidence
- ↑ Le Dernier Mirage - film data (fr) - Africultures accessed July 16, 2019
- ↑ Biography - journalist, screenwriter, publisher and author Christian Séranot (fr) - Africultures accessed July 17, 2019
- ↑ Carthage Film Festival 2012, “Panorama of Tunisian Cinema” (fr) - JCC Tunisie accessed July 16, 2019
- ↑ Enfin en salle! Le Dernier Mirage, author de Nidhal Chatta AD - La Presse de Tunisie / Turess February 12, 2014, accessed July 21, 2019
- ↑ Biography - producer Abdelaziz Ben Mlouka (fr) - Africultures accessed July 16, 2019
- ↑ a b c d e f g Tournage - Le dernier mirage de Nidhal Chatta, Un thriller saharien, author Mahrez Karoui (fr) - Africiné March 8, 2010, accessed July 16, 2019
- ↑ Rencontre avec Elisa Tovati pendant le tournage du film Le dernier mirage de Nidhal Chatta à Tozeur (fr) - TN-News published 2009, accessed July 21, 2019
- ↑ Filmography Abdelmonem Chouayet (fr) - Africultures , accessed July 21, 2019
- ↑ De l'art de briller à l'ombre de la discrétion (fr) - Author Amel Douja Dhaouadi - La Presse de Tunisie / Turess March 18, 2019, accessed July 23, 2019
- ↑ Hommage à Lotfi Dziri, un dernier au revoir à l'artiste Tunisien, author Dora Enafaa (fr) - HuffPost Maghreb , July 17, 2013, accessed July 21, 2019
- ↑ Moez Mrabet, directeur du Festival d'Hammamet (fr) - Author: RadioMed - Festival d'Hammamet July 8, 2017, accessed July 27, 2019
- ↑ Sommet de la Francophonie en Tunisie: Ferid Memmich, le français au poing (fr) - Author Frida Dahmani - Jeunes Afrique August 26, 2018, accessed July 27, 2019
- ↑ Zoubeir Bornaz (en) - IMDb accessed July 27, 2019
- ↑ Nidhal Chatta présente son long metrage Le Dernier Mirage (fr) - MosaiqueFM , February 22, 2014, accessed July 16, 2019
- ↑ Musée des arts islamiques de Kairouan (fr) - Museum with No Frontiers accessed July 22, 2019
- ↑ Film set (s) - IMDb and film photos - IMDb , accessed July 22, 2019
- ↑ Tunisie-Culture: Sortie en salle du Dernier mirage de Nidhal Chatta (fr) - Author ZA - Kapitalis February 3, 2014, accessed July 22, 2019
- ↑ a b c d Le Dernier Mirage: une fiction thriller au goût d'une dénonciation politique (fr) - Author Sara Tanit - Tekiano February 20, 2014, accessed July 16, 2019
- ↑ Foued Mbazâa fait le Buzz au Cinéma (fr) - Espace Manager February 19, 2014, accessed July 16, 2019
- ↑ Locarno Film Festival 2005: Maghreb - Official selection (s) - Locarno Festival accessed July 16, 2019
- ↑ a b Carthage Film Festival 2010, Les palmarès (fr) - JCC Tunisie accessed July 16, 2019
- ^ Prix Tunisie Telecom des JCC 2010 (fr) - Hammam-Ensa November 13, 2010, accessed July 16, 2019
- ↑ World premiere in the category “Panorama of Tunisian Cinema” at the Carthage Film Festival 2012 (fr) - JCC Tunisie accessed July 22, 2019
- ↑ Locarno Film Festival 2012 (en) - Locarno Festival accessed July 16, 2019
- ↑ Douz Doc Days 2013 (fr) - Le petit Journal October 30, 2013, accessed July 22, 2019
- ↑ Tunisie-Culture: Sortie en Salle du Dernier mirage de Nidhal Chatta (fr) - Author ZA - Kapitalis March 3, 2014, accessed July 16, 2019
- ↑ Avant premiere du film tunisien Le dernier mirage de Nidhal Chatta (fr) - Author BI - Jetset Magazine February 19, 2014, accessed July 21, 2019
- ↑ L'intention est belle, le résultat laisse songeur… (fr) - Author Farouk Bahri - Realites-TN April 7, 2014, accessed July 23, 2019