01/10/2024 - More relevant than ever, David Oelhoffen uses Sorj Chalandon’s cult novel to shed light on the inevitability of the war in the Near-East and the role played by theatre and art in human conflicts

This Tuesday 1 October saw The Fourth Wall [+see also:
interview: David Oelhoffen
film profile] - French director David Oelhoffen’s fifth feature film adapted from Sorj Chalandon’s hit novel of the same name which was awarded the High Schoolers’ Goncourt Prize in 2013 - presented in the Official Competition of the Namur International French Film Festival. In fact, the filmmaker seems to be particularly fond of adaptations, given that Far From Men [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] was an adaptation of a short story by Albert Camus (The Guest) and The Last Men was based on Alain Gandy’s novel Les Chiens Jaunes. In this particular instance, he has set about transposing the Lebanese section of Chalandon’s book.

The film opens amidst the clamour of war where we struggle for breath alongside Georges, a Frenchman running under gunfire in a war that isn’t his. He’s soon cornered and finds himself lost in his memories, notably in one particular year, 1982, when he travelled to Beirut upon the request of a filmmaker friend to make Jean Anouilh’s Antigone. Antigone under the bombs. As the various communities tear each other apart both on Lebanese soil and on the borders, Georges aims to bring them together in some kind of theatrical truce for the space of a few hours on the dividing line, where every actress and actor, whether Palestinian, Christian, Druze, Shiite, Sunni, Chaldean or Armenian, will be invited to set aside their religion before taking to the stage to deliver their performance and, in so doing deliver their own interpretation of Antigone, the Ancient Greek heroine who was previously revisited by Anouilh in the middle of the Second World War.

It’s an unbelievably tall order to ask populations who are lacking in everything, whose children are falling under the bombs and whose illusions have been shattered amidst politicians’ broken promises, to suspend their hate and resentment for the length of a performance. And it’s even more unbelievably naive to hope that war will wait until the end of the final act. Some might also see it as plain blindness. In fact, the film, just like the book, plays on this motif. On two occasions, Georges the Frenchman is called upon by civilians, especially in the camp in Chatila, to: "Look around and speak out about it." But we raise questions over what he refuses to see, to the point he appears blind.

Portrayed authentically by Laurent Lafitte, who convincingly conveys his character’s evolution from playing a kind of waiting game to displaying an arrogance befitting of the unfolding tragedy, Georges - and David Oelhoffen, in the footsteps of Sorj Chalandon - challenge us to think about the role of art in times of war, both as a repository for sad and heroic passions and as representing a certain kind of vanity. Like him, we try to understand. He’s our eyes, which are sometimes blinkered, looking upon a situation which goes beyond us and whose echo, which was first heard in the film dating back to 1982, still resonates today, despite the many years that have passed. The fourth wall is the imaginary wall separating the stage from the audience in a theatre, which actors sometimes cross in order to speak directly to the audience. In the film, Georges is a little slow to understand that, sometimes, reality can break through this wall and invite itself onto the stage.

The Fourth Wall will be released on 15 January both in France (distributed by Le Pacte, which is also handling international sales) and in Belgium (by Anga Distribution). It was produced by Eliph Productions (France), Rhamsa Productions (France), Move Movie (France), Amour Fou Luxembourg and Panache Productions (Belgium).

(Translated from French)