Pauline (2009)

Director

Céline Sciamma
Writer
Daphné Charbonneau

Year

2009

Form

Short film

Duration

8 minutes

Synopsis
Pauline is about a young woman and her coming out experience.

Pauline (2009) is one of Five Short Films against Homophobia, produced for Canal+ that are directed by talented young French talents such as Céline Sciamma, Rodolphe Marconi and performed by Raphaël Personnaz, Félix Moati, Anaïs Demoustier and so on. The project has been supported by the French Ministry of Education and Sports and the National Institute for Prevention and Health Education.

Adèle’s role

Pauline's girlfriend

About the film

Pauline is one of five short films created as part of 'Young and Gay and Under the Gaze of Others' project (it probably sounds better in French!), a competition organised by the French Ministry of Health and Sports. The goal of this project was to change representations of homosexuality and encourage reflection on the consequences of homophobia.

Entries into the competition were tasked to "tell in a positive way a situation where a young homosexual is confronted with the gaze of others". 905 proposals were submitted. The jury that selected the winning entries was chaired by the legendary French director André Téchiné, and Céline Sciamma was a member of the jury. Only four films were initially planned to be made, but in addition to the four screenplays that were selected, the screenplay for La Renaissance was awarded a 'special mention'. It was the only film made in this project that dealt with lesbians.

In accordance with the competition rules, the selected screenplays were adapted and then produced, under the supervision of Téchiné, in the form of short films. These short films were broadcast on Canal+ group channels and in Utopia cinemas.

The screenplay La Renaissance by Daphné Charbonneau became the short film Pauline and was directed by Céline Sciamma. Pauline features actress Anaïs Demousitier (who was a César Révélation in 2008 along with Adèle Haenel and who won the 2020 César for Best Actress), with a cameo appearance by Adéle Haenel. The film is a gentle recounting of a young woman's realisation of her attraction to girls/women and the trials that she faced on her journey to acceptance.

As far as I can see, this is the only film that Céline has directed for which she did not write the screenplay.

Notes

André Téchiné is the legend of French filmmaking who chaired the jury panel for this project. He directed Adéle in L’Homme Que L’on Aimait Trop (In the Name of My Daughter/French Riviera) in 2014 and co-wrote the screenplay for Quand on a 17 ans (Being 17, 2016) with Céline Sciamma (we will view this film in the forthcoming Céline Sciamma Film Festival).

Pauline is edited by Julien Lacheray, who has edited all of the films that Céline has directed (as far as I can see). Julien & Céline were at La Femis together—Julien in the eddting stream & Céline in the screenwriting stream. More about the 2005 La Femis crew tomorrow.

More about Five Short Films Against Homophobia

The five short films, including Pauline, were published on a DVD that was accompanied by a 58pp booklet (OCLC 758352067) and was provided for education professionals as an intervention tool against homophobia.

The other films made as part of the Five Short Films Against Homophobia project are are: