12/04/2024 - A perfect blend of prison film, detective movie, portrait of a woman and deep dive into Corsican society, Stéphane Demoustier delivers an excellent feature film carried by the brilliant Hafsia Herzi

"It’s the prisoners who watch the wardens here and not the other way round." There’s a very particular atmosphere at play in block 2 of Corsica’s Borgo jail. An open prison (the cell doors are left open between 7am and 7pm) in exchange for good behaviour, prisoners belonging to clans who aren’t too fond of anyone else, "no blacks or Arabs", cells with four to six inmates, except for the bosses who have their own rooms "with a sea view": "they organise themselves as they see fit", "we’re not in France anymore", "we call it Club Med"… It’s into the midst of this practically self-managed, penitentiary micro-society that Stéphane Demoutier (previously acclaimed for 40-Love [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and The Girl With A Bracelet [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Stéphane Demoustier
film profile]) thrusts the protagonist of his compelling new movie Borgo [+see also:
trailer
film profile], which was screened in competition at the Reims Polar Thriller Film Festival yesterday and which is due for release in French cinemas on 17 April, courtesy of Le Pacte.

"If things carry on like this, it’s going to end badly". Transferred to Corsica, seasoned prison warden Melissa (Hafsia Herzi) finds that the incredibly relaxed atmosphere of her workplace (where she soon acquires the nickname Ibiza) contrasts sharply with the aggressive inhabitants ("you’re lucky I don’t hit women") of the neighbourhood where she now lives with her partner Djibril (Moussa Mansaly) and their two very young children. It’s worth pointing out that Djibril is black while Melissa is of Maghrebi descent, which doesn’t make their integration into a highly Corsican society such as this any easier. But as "everyone knows everything here", Saveriu (Louis Memmi) - a likeable prisoner who Melissa had previously crossed paths with on the continent - helps the "screw" to solve her problems. But nothing comes for free and Melissa finds herself on a slippery slope, while a police superintendent (Michel Fau) tries to solve a double murder which took place at the airport, with the help of surveillance cameras…

A meticulous screenplay skilfully unfolding across two separate time periods (penned by the director in collaboration with Pascal-Pierre Garbarini), a perfect cast (also starring Florence Loiret-Caille, Pablo Pauly, Cédric Appietto and a highly convincing ensemble of local non-professionals) following in the wake of the remarkable Hafsia Herzi, a sense of mystery and things unsaid, which leave viewers free to interpret the film as they like, a play on the incredibly relative transparency of video surveillance in counterpoint to the very human opacity of the main character, sparse but wholly effective and suggestive use of exteriors (a bar on the beach, an isolated house in the back country, an airport)… Navigating between its four closed circles (a woman more or less unconsciously looking for something else in her life, an investigation at a standstill, a prison with its incumbent rules and an island with a very specific culture), Borgo is a subtle rereading of genre film by an intelligent author who is discreetly and methodically and film after film, confirming his status as an impressive and maturing filmmaker.

Borgo is produced by Petit Film and sold worldwide by Charades.

(Translated from French)