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VENICE 2006 Venice days

7 Years: The poetry of prose

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Jean-Pascal Hattu's film is indeed very French in that it deals with its subject with great sobriety (in the dialogue, which is very faithful to what everyday conversations, as well as in the very natural lighting), avoiding melodrama and still managing to convey the suffering of a couple separated by a prison wall. This objective depiction of prison life outside prison, through Maïté (the convict’s wife) reflects the characters' acceptance of their situation.

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is a transparent, unbiased window through which we can observe, in a series of close-ups, the ritual that has become part of Maïté's life (the visits to prison, doing the laundry, which allows her to smell her husband Vincent's smell and spray her perfume on the clothes she then brings back to him), but this routine is disrupted when Vincent, now completely dependent upon her, finds a way to control the situation by providing her a lover, prison guard Jean.

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Yet what seems to be love triangle is in fact a game with only two players, for the lover is objectified – like the tape recorder he carries in and out of the prison, he is only a vector whose role is to reflect the perfectly symmetrical love of this torn-apart couple (like the clothes Maïté is allowed to bring to Vincent, lovers only go "two by two"). Thus, what could have been the subject of a documentary is in fact a story of absolute love, a poetic tale not lacking lovely details, such as the presence of an incredibly child kid who perceives Maïté's need for carnality and witnesses her adultery.

7 ans was produced by Justin Taurand for Les Films du Bélier. International sales are being handled by Pyramide.

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(Translated from French)

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