23/05/2023 - CANNES 2023: A maths whizz-kid suddenly strays from her path and finds out what real life is in this entertaining and unassuming film by Anna Novion

“Every even natural number greater than two is the sum of two prime numbers.” First formulated in 1742, Goldbach’s conjecture is one of the oldest unsolved problems in number theory and mathematics in general, and it plays a central role in Marguerite’s Theorem [+see also:
trailer
interview: Anna Novion
film profile], the third feature by French-Swedish helmer Anna Novion (who rose to fame in the 2008 Critics’ Week with Grown Ups [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]), which has been presented as a Special Screening in the Official Selection of the 76^th Cannes Film Festival. However, those who are allergic to mathematics can rest assured that there is no need for any specialised knowledge in order to appreciate this well-structured, entertaining and unpretentious film, revolving around a young prodigy who is highly focused on her scientific passion, and her awakening to the outside world.

“Maths? I wouldn’t be able to live without it.” Marguerite (played to perfection by Ella Rumpf) is a maths whizz-kid who is working on her theorem about prime numbers at the École Normale Supérieure (ENS), under the guidance of Professor Werner (Jean-Pierre Darroussin). The life of this young woman with an air of austerity, peering out from behind her spectacles, can be boiled down to research, calculations and endless work, which she does everywhere, entirely on her own, within the confines of the holy trinity of "facts, reasoning and proof". Her ultimate goal is to solve Goldbach’s conjecture. However, her status and her self-confidence are shot to pieces when Lucas (Julien Frison), a good-looking PhD student hailing from Oxford, with whom she refused to share the progress she had made, publicly points out a mistake in her proof, which means that Marguerite’s three years of research have been worthless. Devastated by this failure and profoundly hurt by Werner’s decision to no longer accompany her, as he deems her overambitious and too immature ("Mathematics will not permit any emotion"), Marguerite quits the school. It’s a decision that entails some serious consequences (she can forget about her high-flying career and has to pay back €44,000 to the ENS), and which no one understands, least of all her mother (Clotilde Coureau), a maths teacher in a small-town secondary school. Marguerite thus finds herself alone, slap bang in the middle of real life, a kind of existence whose social codes she is still totally unfamiliar with (finding a job, putting her obsessions with logic to one side, learning how to live with people who have very different personalities from her own – with Sonia Bonny – as well as learning how to share and how to love), but which she will discover in her own, very personal, manner. But it’s hard to shake off the tenacious virus of mathematics…

From Pi to A Beautiful Mind, via Good Will Hunting and X+Y [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], mathematics fever has already burst onto the big screen several times before, despite the fact it might not be an easy subject to tackle at first glance. By choosing an intimate, personal angle homing in on a rite of passage, and by opting for a tone that flirts with comedy, Anna Novion has crafted an enjoyable, often funny, film, but one which itself also mechanically applies some pre-existing formulas, resulting in a picture that is nonetheless refreshing on the whole, thanks to the colourful main character played by an actress worth keeping an eye on.

Marguerite’s Theorem was produced by TS Productions and was co-produced by Switzerland’s Beauvoir Film. Its international sales have been entrusted to Pyramide International.

(Translated from French)