Les Ogres
Year
2016
Director
Léa Fehner
Synopsis
They travel from town to town, carrying their circus tent with them, their show packed in their bags. They bring fantasy and disorder into our lives. They are ogres, giants. They have eaten up men, women, children, hours of theater and miles of road. Proudly eccentrics, they live like a tribe, mixing family, work, love and friendship, without holding anything back. But the return of an old flame and the imminent arrival of a baby reopen wounds that they thought had healed. No matter, the ogres would always rather bite than admit they are wounded.
So let the party begin!
So let the party begin!
Honours/Awards
· Swann D’or Du Meilleur Film Au Festival De Cabourg 2016
· Adèle: Nominated for Best Actress Lumière Award
Adèle’s role
Mona, a performer in traveling theatre group.
Excerpts from reviews
“…Everyone gets their spell in the spotlight, including Deloyal's heavily pregnant, tomboyish partner Mona — played by the most exciting European actress of her generation, Adele Haenel. A dual Cesar laureate (for Suzanne and Love At First Fight) before turning 27 — on Jan. 1 this year — the ever-luminous Haenel throws herself into the ensemble with game gusto, her slightly off-kilter personality chiming neatly with the mood of semi-controlled chaos which Fehner seeks to evoke.”
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/ogres-les-ogres-rotterdam-review-862803
“…Léa Fehner films excess and intimacy in a breath that never runs out. About fifteen characters - professional actors ( Adèle Haenel, radiant, earthly and solar) and members of her parents' troupe—carried by the artistic imagination, jostled by reality, fed by stories which the director feeds herself to tell life in all its states.”
“…The pic is undoubtedly an ensemble piece, but Haenel — at 27, already a two-time Cesar winner — is especially affecting and plausible as Mona, one of the younger adults, pregnant by M. Deloyal (Marc Barbe), a circus ringmaster of sorts. Haenel communicates with precision the tough naivete that helps us understand why she might have been attracted to Deloyal’s binge-drinking, troublemaking ways in the first place — but also why she is, despite his issues, subsequently able to stick around.”
Comments
This film is written and directed by Léa Fehner and is based on her childhood and stars many members of her family, including her father who plays the leader of the troupe, alongside professional film actors. It was mostly shot in Port-La Nouvelle.
Lola Dueñas was in Suzanne and Les Ogres with Adèle.
This is another of Adèle’s films with an ensemble cast, and although she shines, she also shows what a fabulous team player she is by always playing for the team outcome, not for just for herself. (I think this says really nice things about Adèle as a person...)
From interviews with director, Léa Fehner
"Was choosing Adèle Haenel obvious? Did you write with her in mind?
No, I did not write thinking about her and I met her at a time when she was much less in the spotlight than she is now. Adèle did the tests, and she was superb, solar, insolent, powerful. And it needed power for this character, who does not care about the mourning of his spouse, who happens to laugh about it, and who is also with a much older man. To believe this story, with it, it was possible.”
“... so it took the power of actresses like Adèle but also like Lola Dueñas, Marion Bouvarel, Inès Fehner, to wear these female characters. It must also be said that with Adèle, the desire for a collective is very powerful. She plays theater and more than anything puts herself at the service of a work. Where I have been very lucky is that Adèle, Lola and Marc Barbé are acrobats in their way of being at the cinema. They weren't at all polluted by the question of recognition, of notoriety. On the set, they completely melted into the troop. Their engagement was physical, whole, total, without any safeguard ... like what I have seen in the traveling theater?”
From Press Kit
 |
| Filming Les Ogres |
Rewatch Comments
This film ends on a really upbeat note and left me with a feeling of hope and joy, though on the journey through the film we are taken to dark places too. Through the film we are experience through all the shades of emotions as the biological and theatrical family of the Davai Theatre troupe work through their challenges, old and new.
This film is a real family affair, with the story based on the director and screenwriter, Léa Fehner's, upbringing in a travelling theatre group and the film features her father as the father of the troupe, her sister plays Ines and her kids and nieces and nephews are the kids of the troupe; her husband edited the film. The rest of troupe is made of of real theatre performers and some film actors.
I read in interviews that they all stayed together for a few weeks at the coast when making the film so had that 'all living together' experience that was a taste of the traveling theatre experience.
Adèle's full range range of acting gets a workout in this film, with some great comedy scenes, such as the 'It's a sex toy?' scene (it is definitely not a sex toy!) and when Deloyal (Marc Barbé) and Mona (Adèle) play mind games with the young man she has been caught in bed with it is hilarious. (The actor playing the poor trapped young man does an excellent job in his small role). The film takes Mona to dark places and Adèle portrays her with much depth and feeling. As always, Adèle's acting is both subtle and powerful, and so very moving. I read in interviews that they all stayed together for a few weeks at the coast when making the film so had that 'all living together' experience that was a taste of the traveling theatre experience.
This is a real ensemble film and Adèle is fabulous. At this time in her career she had recently won her second César Award and the Romy Schneider Award, and so choosing to be in an ensemble film, rather than demanding to be "The Star" demonstrates that she chooses her films based on things other than ego.
The scene where they are spruiking their theatre performance in the street was filmed without the people knowing it was for a film, so that actors were dealing with locals who were responding to them for real, which added to the fun (and no doubt stress) of the scene.
I like this film, and I like that it leave us with hope. The troupe members are there for each other when it matters, even though they might squabble or fight along the way (as we hope real families are). I also like seeing Adèle with kids and with the baby—she is so sweet with them. [Unrelated to the film, but she looks like she would be a fabulous auntie—she looks like would have real fun with the kids (as any good aunt should). That said, she's such a great actress, who knows what she is really like with kids... : ) ]
Some images from the film
After a screening of Les Ogres Q&A with Adèle & Léa
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