Who is Reality really? The incredible true story of this American arrives at the cinema this Wednesday, with headlining the excellent Sydney Sweeney (Euphoria, The White Lotus).
What is it about ?
On June 3, 2017, Twenty-five-year-old Reality Winner was questioned by two FBI agents at her home. This seemingly banal, sometimes surreal conversation, each dialogue of which is taken from the authentic transcript of the interrogation, paints the complex portrait of an American millennial, veteran of the United States Air Force, yoga teacher, who loves animals, travel and share photos on social networks. Why is the FBI interested in her? Who is Reality really?
Presented out of competition at the Festival Nouvelles Vagues in Biarritz in early July, Reality is directed by Tina Satter. This is his first feature film, after directing several plays. Reality is precisely the adaptation of a work that she had staged on Broadway, a play acclaimed by critics, Is This A Roommounted in 2021.
Reality tells an incredible true story, unknown in France. On June 3, 2017, Reality Winner, 25, was questioned by two FBI agents at her home. The film is based on the authentic transcription of FBI recordings. “For genesis, it just so happens that this information was first discussed on June 3, 2017, and this girl’s name, Reality Winner, which is too strange a name to be true, had explained the filmmaker Tina Setter, in front of the public during the Festival Nouvelles Vagues.
Like everyone else, like all Americans, we hadn’t noticed anything other than his name. We thought it could be someone who won a reality TV show, or who participated in a television show. We didn’t really pay attention to what was being said about her.“
An absolutely irresistible opportunity to make a film
And to add:It was only 6 months later that I saw what had happened. In the press, there was the transcript of his interrogation. When I read it, I was immediately seduced by this incredible story, by all the dichotomies that appeared in the character of this young woman.
Through this text that was transcribed, we were suddenly immersed in this day in June 2017, in the room of this person in Georgia. This whole story was unfolding before our eyes, and for me it was an absolutely irresistible opportunity to make a film.“.
Reality is worn from start to finish by Sydney Sweeney, one of the stars of Euphoria and seen in Season 1 of White Lotus. She very accurately portrays this young woman at the wheel of her car, who seems a priori uneventful, an American among others… And with whom we immediately empathize. Did you know that Sydney Sweeney would soon put on the costume of a superhero linked to Spider-Man?
Two FBI agents knock on the window of his car, the conversation is initiated between them, and the suspense begins. The film offers a mise en abyme: the scene unfolding before our eyes, and the FBI procedure via the transcription. The viewer is immersed in the anxiety and questions of this young woman, and will be held spellbound until the end of the film.
Reality hits theaters this Wednesday, August 16, 2023.