THE OPINION OF THE “WORLD” – TO SEE
The heroes of Raphaël Mathié’s films are breeders on the Aubrac plateau, in search of a few plots of land – bitter lands (2004) – or even this old farmer from Lozère who is about to sell his cows before the farm is handed over – Last season, (Combalimon) (2007). A rural western, a twilight portrait, and now a village chronicle haunted by disappearance: in Up there perched, which will be released on March 2, the director has placed his camera in a hamlet (Chasteuil), nestled in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence. Initially, he had simply come to think about writing a film, when a white-bearded gentleman, Michel Korber, known as “Mich”, said to him in his gravelly voice: “No need to write, just open your eyes wide. Here, we make movies every day, and it’s been going on for forty years. »
The filmmaker took him at his word, agreeing not to control everything, becoming the visitor to places and souls, confidant and witness to the bonds that are loosened and reformed over time. The documentary opens in the old stones heated by the sun, during a funeral. And death will still hover, softened by a certain taste for the wacky, the older ones thinking about their future burial: burial or cremation? Even the “young” Coco, in her forties, has come back from afar, convalescing after her cancer, a small blanket over her legs to get some fresh air. His English friend, a slightly “perched” guitarist, kills time with a few notes of blues.
Short and deep sketches
There is also Christiane, 85, a yoga follower who makes her body live in slow motion, and this nurse who comes to relieve the feet of Mich, who is less and less “autonomous”, as we say nowadays. The old gentleman, communist, who knew the war and anti-Semitism, nevertheless has stories under his sleeve. In the film, he undertakes to tell his Memoirs to a public writer, the director taking samples of these interviews from a corner of the table, favoring the spark that lights up in the eye of the former resistant.
One day, the myth of a meteorite returns to cross the village, taking the small community out of its habits… Up there perched is illuminated by his photography, by the unusual rhythm born of the time spent with the inhabitants. Raphaël Mathié’s camera captures brief and profound sketches (a summer party), passes from one character to another, like a bee foraging and seeking to pollinate. Chasteuil becomes a hive after hours of rushes.
You have 1.86% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.