Filmed in 2019, “Of our wounded brothers” will be released in our theaters this Wednesday, March 23. And this drama against the backdrop of the Algerian War offers Vincent Lacoste a new opportunity to shine.
On February 25, Vincent Lacoste won the first César of his career, that of Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Lost Illusions, after having been nominated four times. If it is obviously too early to project on the ceremony of 2023, it would not be surprising to see him in the running for a second compression thanks to Of our wounded brothers. It would even be deserved given his intense and heartbreaking performance in Hélier Cisterne’s film.
Inspired by the true story of Fernand Iveton, recounted by Joseph Andras in a book whose title the film has kept, From Our Wounded Brothers plunges us into 1954, as the Algerian War begins. Embodying this independence activist allows Vincent Lacoste to reveal a new facet, both more sensitive and more raw, of his immense talent.
“An extraordinary actor in the body of an ordinary man, he is constantly evolving”says Hélier Cisterne of him in the press kit. “He is a real worker who does not give the impression of it. And he has this immense quality of being absolutely there, in his character, without needing to underline his involvement. He is not in the megalomania of his character. He has a naturalness, an ingenuity, a form of humility that makes you totally believe in his characters.”
The Films of Belier/Laurent Thurin-Nal Hélier Cisterne and Vicky Krieps on set
Until now little inclined to physical transformations and other changes of look, which could make some people say (wrongly) that he played the same roles all the time, Vincent Lacoste is totally credible in the skin of Fernand Iveton. And we believe as much in his character as in the couple he forms with Vicky Krieps while the film, as the trailer clearly shows, slides from the sweetness of their love towards the dramatic consequences of this dark period of the History of France.
A long taboo subject that the film does not hesitate to look into the eye, through arbitrary arrests, torture and even the guillotine, which denote a republic behaving like a dictatorship: “[Il] stages or evokes a tiny part of all these practices which then existed and were systematized from 1956, to become common throughout this conflict even though it was a ‘republic’ which was waging this war. Led by the moderate left until 1958 moreover.
There is an incredible gap between the under-representation of this war in our country until now, and its omnipresence in Algeria
“To summon these elements is also to refuse that we can ignore them, but the cinematographic question is that of their representation.” And this performance, Hélier Cisterne was able to bring it to fruition in part thanks to Algeria, which co-produced De nos frères wounded, and the support of the Ministry of Culture of the city of Algiers: “Without the will of power, we could not have done anything, but without the help of a younger, more independent generation, either.”
“You should know that there, Iveton is considered a mujahid [un combattant révolutionnaire, ndlr], he is highly respected by intellectuals and veterans. What is interesting when you arrive in Algeria with such a subject for a film is that everyone was very benevolent but among the youngest the reaction was, ‘ah, another film about the revolution’, ‘still a veteran’s film’… There’s an incredible gap between the under-representation of this war in our country until now, and its omnipresence there.”
What if From Our Injured Brothers, shot in 2019 and which only arrives in our theaters today, following several postponements linked to the Covid, changes things a bit?