11/49
In the working-class neighborhood of old Marseille, Rosa is the heart and soul of her community, a nurse and matriarch of a large and close-knit family. She meets Henri and realizes that it is never too late to realize her own dreams. The collapse of the buildings on the rue d'Aubagne in Marseille occurred at 9 am on November 5, 2018, killing eight people. It was two ruined buildings in the city center. This tragedy opens the film; Robert Guédiguian has become a committed director of our time. Like his English colleague Kenneth Loach, Robert Guédiguian depicts the other side of the mirror; on the feel-good French scene, his works are more decisive than ever; because they are not exactly those that are considered "feel-good" despite the fact that there are moments in his work that bring more joy to the viewer than fashionable hip updates. His masterpieces "La Ville Est Tranquille" "Les Neiges Du Kilimandjaro" or the neglected "Une Histoire De Fous" lovely tales that go straight to the heart: generous, cheeky, full of compassion. Rosa (the wonderful Arianne Ascaride, Guédiguian’s partner and the main character in most of his films) these lines are the key to the film: “We should have two lives: one to take care of ourselves, the other to take care of our fellow human beings” Like many of the director’s films, “et la fête à jour” is the chronicle of a Marseille family, the script is made up of subplots. I always thought that Julien Duvivier was Guédiguian’s closest relative, especially from the life of “la belle équipe” “sous le ciel de Paris” and “la fête à Henriette”: a devoted nurse – the scene where she consoles her black colleague, desperate because she did not hold her patient’s hand when she died, is admirable – she is also an activist, she has so many tasks on the go at once that it is impossible becomes to see through them; discouragement is near and breaks out at the meeting of the shortlisted candidates. His son has found the woman of his life and wants to have many children; the future bride is an activist in addition to his father who falls in love with Rosa; on paper it may seem melodramatic, but Guédiguian’s treatment avoids pathos and dramatization; The young man’s love, after escaping shame, shows him that life can go on, even if not according to his plans. Her father (the wonderful Darroussin, Guédiguian’s favorite actor, often played opposite Ascaride) becomes the light that still shines in Rosa’s darkest night. Together they will fight against the “marchands de sommeil”; (sleep merchants) who rent out uninhabitable apartments in the scene, around the bust of Homer, where the voices multiply until they become one. The heroine finally relaxes enough to acknowledge that the personal is both personal and political; this in turn makes Aznavour’s classic more endearing and effective. “emmenez moi” – unlike most of his colleagues, Guédiguian uses the French songbook – is a transparent metaphor: happiness is not unattainable outside the harsh realities of life.