04/09/2024 - VENICE 2024: Delphine and Muriel Coulin craft a remarkable film about the upheaval caused to a family of three when one of them drifts far-right

Stefan Crepon, Vincent Lindon and Benjamin Voisin in The Quiet Son

"Freedom for whom? Egality for whom? Fraternity for whom?" It’s not just the motto of the French Republic that’s called into question by a young man who has recently converted to the language of the far-right, but the entire equilibrium of a small and close-knit family composed of a father and two brothers, which we see slowly falling apart in the brilliant movie, The Quiet Son [+see also:
trailer
interview: Delphine and Muriel Coulin
film profile], by Delphine and Muriel Coulin, which was unveiled in competition within the 81st Venice Film Festival.

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Tackling a burning topic (indoctrination by groups of ultra football fans and the contamination of minds with nauseating ideas) from an intimate angle, the two filmmakers (who adapted Laurent Petitmangin’s novel What You Need From the Night themselves) work with great sensitivity as they relocate the dark heart of the subject-matter (a young generation feeling forgotten by politics and yielding to the sirens of popularism) into a far more individualised and fascinating context: how best to react when we discover to our great surprise and displeasure that our son or brother, whom we love, has fallen for what we consider to be the dark side.

"One of them looked like your kid". For railway worker Pierre (Vincent Lindon), who’s a seasoned catenary mechanic, it’s a shock when a colleague tells him he thinks he recognised his older son, Fus (Benjamin Voisin), among a group of fascists looking for trouble while putting up posters. For years, and since the death of his wife, Pierre has lived in perfect harmony with sporty and kind-natured 21-year-old Fus and his brother Louis (Stefan Crepon), who’s a far more introverted but very good 19-year-old student. Within this trio and their home, good humour, complicity, a shared love of football and trust reign supreme. But the age of childhood, swings and seesaws suddenly vanishes and the tension gradually rises as we hear of Fus’ involvement in acts carried out by his skinhead mates… At what point do a son’s mistakes become too serious to forgive?

"Doesn’t it bother you that your brother’s mixed up in all that? Did you know?” - ”He’ll pull himself together” – “I’m worried", "he doesn’t want to know. He wants to live his life? Then he can go ahead and live his life, tough luck for him", "I want him to go back to who he was". The Coulin sisters’ understated screenplay details the various stages in the psychological evolution of the relationships between the father and brothers with formidable precision; a precision which is artfully embedded in a highly realistic depiction of their day-to-day life. The film is an absorbing, meticulous analysis which evokes the past and the dilemmas of the present to wonderful effect, where tender feelings and loyalty collide with a deep and ever-growing sense of incomprehension. Inherent to paternal and fraternal love, these contradictions which are perfectly conveyed by the three main actors and further enhanced by an equally immaculate mise en scène approach, also resonate forcefully and with great humanity - beneath the film’s veil of highly controlled simplicity - with these present times of confusion and ideological peril.

The Quiet Son was produced by Felicita Films and Curiosa Films in co-production with France 3 Cinéma. Playtime are steering international sales.

(Translated from French)

Photogallery 04/09/2024: Venice 2024 - Jouer avec le feu

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Delphine Coulin, Muriel Coulin, Vincent Lindon, Benjamin Voisin, Stefan Crepon
© 2024 Fabrizio de Gennaro for Cineuropa - fadege.it, @fadege.it