Mauvaise foi
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Mauvaise foi |
| Country of production | France , Belgium |
| original language | French |
| Publishing year | 2006 |
| length | 88 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Roschdy Zem |
| script | Roschdy Zem, Pascal Elbé , Agnès de Sacy |
| production | Philippe Godeau |
| music | Souad Massi |
| camera | Jérôme Alméras |
| cut | Monica Coleman |
| occupation | |
| |
Mauvaise foi is a French - Belgian comedy film from 2006. The film was the directorial debut of Roschdy Zem , who also played the male lead alongside Cécile de France .
action
Clara and Ismaël have been in a happy relationship for four years. The fact that she is of Jewish and he is of Arab origin does not matter to either of them. When Clara becomes pregnant, they decide to move in together. Clara Ismaël finally wants to introduce Ismaël to her parents and therefore invites him to dinner together. However, the fact that her daughter's boyfriend is an Arab meets with irritation and displeasure with Clara's father Victor and especially with her mother Lucie. The fact that Ismaël teaches the piano at the Conservatory and performs with a jazz band on the weekends doesn't make any impression on her either. Only Clara's aunt Martha, who lives temporarily with Clara's parents and already knows about Ismaël and Clara's pregnancy, is friendly and open-minded. When Lucie withdraws because she is supposedly not doing well - not because of Ismaël, as she emphasizes - Clara breaks off the evening together early and drives home with Ismaël.
Ismaël turns to his best friend Milou for advice, who, like Clara, is Jewish and with whom he shared an apartment until recently. Then Ismaël wants to tell his mother Habiba about Clara, but his little sister Mounia intervenes when she comes home from her soccer training. Meanwhile, Lucie apologizes to Clara for her behavior. However, she is still convinced that a relationship between a Jewish woman and a Muslim cannot work. Clara, who suffers from the rejection of her parents, finally tells her about her pregnancy and says that it is the mother who counts in Judaism.
When Ismaël discovers a mezuzah on the door frame of the shared apartment , which is a Jewish good luck charm, he reacts puzzled that neither he nor Clara are religious. When asked about this, she reacts irritably and in turn asks whether he has already poured his mother pure wine about their relationship. Ismaël insists that his mother is in Brittany for a cure . During Clara's ultrasound examination, Ismaël reveals that the child, should it become a boy, should be called his late father Abdelkrim. When Ismaël's sister Mounia comes by to clean his apartment, she meets Clara and they get to know each other.
While Clara's parents continue to express concern about the religious conflict potential of their relationship - although Aunt Martha says they are not even religious - Ismaël has still not told his mother Habiba anything about Clara. When Clara visits his buddy Milou in his record store because she wants to know what it means to be Jewish, she learns that Habiba has not even gone to the cure and Ismaël lied to her. When confronted by her, she asks Ishmael for forgiveness. He was afraid that his mother might react in the same way as Clara's parents. Ismaël, who, to Clara's amazement, does not want to eat the next day because of Ramadan , finally invites his mother and sister to an evening together so that Habiba can finally get to know Clara. Clara, who works as a physiotherapist with the disabled, does not arrive at home until late in the evening due to an accident with one of her patients and a traffic jam, when Habiba and Mounia have already left. Ismaël reacts angrily and an argument ensues, in which their different origins turn out to be an increasing burden on their relationship. Clara then leaves Ismaël.
When Clara's father, Victor, invites Ismaël to go on a bike tour together and later to a dinner together, at which a friend of the Ismaël family wants to bring Judaism closer and suggests visiting a synagogue together, Ismaël is reconciled with Clara. For the visit to the synagogue, Ismaël von Milou borrows a kippah and a tallit and, to the amazement of his uncle, forgets to take off the kippah on the way home. A game night with friends leads to a falling out between Ismaël and Milou, who thinks Ismaël's uncle is a Muslim fundamentalist who is brainwashing young people. After attending a soccer game in Mounia, Ismaël and Clara have another argument. Ismaël assures her that he loves her, but also admits that he is not sure he really wants the baby. Clara reacts upset and leaves him again. Then she lets her aunt comfort her in a bar. Martha, who, to the displeasure of her father, was once with an Englishman and has not been able to have children since a miscarriage, tells Clara that the problem is not her parents, but her own fears.
After making up with Milou, Ismaël tells his mother that he is with Clara, a Jew, and declares with certainty that the child they are expecting will not be called his father. Habiba, who has never liked her husband's name anyway, is, contrary to his expectations, just happy to finally become a grandmother. Ismaël then tries to find Clara. However, she took two days off and, according to her parents, drove to a friend in the country. In truth, however, Clara allows herself to be taken to a hospital to have an abortion. Martha, who learns about Clara's plans through a letter, can catch Ismaël in time and let him know. Ismaël then rushes to the hospital, where Clara is already on the way to the operating room. When Ismaël thinks he has come too late, he meets Clara. A few years later, Ismaël and Clara want to go out together. Their mothers come by to take care of their daughter and their few month old son.
background
The idea for the film came from producer Philippe Godeau, who suggested to Roschdy Zem to write a script on this very relevant topic in France. Zem, who was brought up as a Muslim himself and is married to a Jew, believed that the subject mattered very much from his personal experience. He was also keen to break with the typical clichés about Arabs, for example by having Ismaël perform as a piano teacher and jazz fan. The role of Milou was again based on a Jewish childhood friend of Zem. Pascal Elbé , who played the role of Milou in the film, also wrote the script. "Pascal brought me his Jewish humor and I my reflection on Islam," Roschdy Zem summarized the joint work. In order to design the female characters and the scenes between Clara and Ismaël with more finesse, Agnès de Sacy was also brought in as a screenwriter. When the search for a suitable director began after a first draft of the script, it was also producer Godeau who persuaded Zem to take over the direction himself and thus make his first film.
The shooting took place in Paris and the surrounding suburbs of Les Lilas , Levallois-Perret , Saint-Maurice and Charenton-le-Pont . The budget of the film was 4.8 million euros. Marie Cheminal designed the production . Nathalie Raoul was responsible for the costume design. The film music was composed by the Algerian singer and songwriter Souad Massi . The song Pour qui , which she wrote for the film and can be heard in the credits, was recorded by Massi in a duet with Roschdy Zem's long-time friend, the comedian and actor Gad Elmaleh . His father David Elmaleh played the role of Clara's gynecologist in the film.
Mauvaise foi opened in French and Belgian cinemas on December 6, 2006. In France, the film was then able to book around 790,000 cinema viewers. On June 5, 2007, it was screened at the Seattle International Film Festival . On July 2, 2007, it was also presented at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival .
Reviews
For Le Parisien , Mauvaise foi was “a dynamic and intelligent comedy that avoids all clichés about mixed couples”, thanks in particular to the performances by Roschdy Zem, Pascal Elbé and Cécile de France. Le Figaro described Roschdy Zem's directorial debut as a "charming romantic comedy about a mixed couple". The film is "a plea for tolerance and openness towards others". The film's "serious issues" were "handled with ease," wrote Le Monde . Nevertheless, Zem took the opportunity "to make a welcome call for compromise and tolerance in the context of an overheated debate about identity".
Lisa Nesselson from Variety saw Mauvaise foi as “a piece of advice who's coming to eat in the 21st century”. The result was a "harmless, current comedy", which is supported by "the lovable ideas" of the two main actors. The script and the direction would contribute little to world peace, but “the entertaining film” is likely to have success in France and be received with open arms at Jewish film festivals. On his directorial debut, Zem built “a few current political swipes” into the plot, “the result of which is never really doubtful”. Fortunately, the script mocked "the tendency to attribute ethnic relations in France to the ongoing conflict between Israel and its Palestinian neighbors." The end of the film seems "a little awkward", but the clear message of Mauvaise foi is not affected. The supporting actors, in turn, are very amusing in their roles.
Awards
The film received a nomination for the César in the category Best First Work . In the same category he was awarded the Étoile d'Or in 2007 , which Cécile de France won in the category Best Lead Actress for both Mauvaise foi and her performance in Chanson d'Amour . Roschdy Zem was nominated for the Globe de Cristal in 2007 in the Best Actor category.
Web links
- Mauvaise foi in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Mauvaise foi on allocine.fr (French)
Individual evidence
- ↑ “Pascal m'a apporté son humor juif, et moi, ma réflexion par rapport à l'islam.” Brigitte Baudin: Roschdy Zem, un acte de tolérance . In: Le Figaro , December 5, 2006.
- ↑ Brigitte Baudin: Roschdy Zem, un acte de tolérance . In: Le Figaro , December 5, 2006.
- ↑ a b cf. allocine.fr
- ↑ a b cf. jpbox-office.com
- ↑ "[U] ne comédie dynamique et intelligent qui évite tous les clichés sur les couples mixtes." Alain Grasset: “Mauvaise Foi”: drôle de couple… mixed . See programs TV du jeudi 17 octobre: notre sélection . In: Le Parisien , October 17, 2019.
- ↑ “ Mauvaise Foi […] is a charming comédie romantique sur un couple mixed. Un plaidoyer pour la tolérance et l'ouverture sur l'autre. ” Brigitte Baudin: Roschdy Zem, un acte de tolérance . In: Le Figaro , December 5, 2006.
- ^ “Ces sujets graves sont traités de manière légère […]. Roschdy Zem […] n'en profit pas moins pour signer, in un contexte de surchauffe identitaire, un appel bienvenu au compromis et à la tolérance. ” Jacques Mandelbaum: “Mauvaise foi” . In: Le Monde , December 5, 2006.
- ↑ “A 'Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?' for the 21st century […]. Non-threatening, topical comedy benefits from endearing perfs by the well-liked Zem and Cecile de France. […] But this enjoyable pic […]. Zem […] sprinkles a few timely political barbs throughout the narrative, whose outcome is never really in doubt. Encouragingly, the script ridicules the tendency to blame race relations in France on the ongoing conflict between Israel and its Palestinian neighbors. [...] Denouement is a tad clumsy. " Lisa Nesselson: Bad Faith . In: Variety , December 6, 2006.