Libre Garance: 5 things to know about this political and poetic film with Laetitia Dosch

Political legacy

Free Garance! takes place in 1982-1983. Through this period, Lisa Diaz wanted to tell the story of a political legacy via this question: what did the generation of the 1970s, who had hoped for a lot, bequeath to the next generation? The director explains:

“This question of political transmission interests me. It was posed in a double way at that time, between those who experienced the movement of the return to nature; and the last fires of the armed struggle embodied in the film by the ‘Italian activist.’

“What does it question in terms of hope? Where is the utopia? questions about their commitment.”

Shooting in the Cévennes

Nour Films

Free Garance! was filmed in the Cévennes, in Lozère, near where Lisa Diaz grew up, and where there were many returns to the land in the 70s-80s (with a fairly strong community life). The director recalls:

“That’s still the case today. The extras in the film were hooked up with it all, them and their homes. I didn’t feel like I was fabricating a situation. I also know it’s a place where people hide out, can disappear, a territory where you can really get lost.”

“There is a house here, a house there and miles of mountains which constitute a wild territory. It is a place where the fauna and flora are very present. A sparsely populated territory where the inhabitants bathe naked in the rivers!”

A little Tom Sawyer!

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Lisa Diaz chose Azou Gardahaut-Petiteau to play Garance. The filmmaker justifies this choice: “She is very flexible, very agile. She surfs and grew up in a small town by the sea. She passed the tests and showed that she knew how to improvise very well.”

“She has a sense of humour. I also liked her ability to be lively, very comfortable with adults as well as with other children. She had this gang leader side in life too. Tom Sawyer!”

The ubiquitous fear

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The theme of fear is present throughout Libre Garance!, particularly in the form of nightmares and tales. Lisa Diaz develops: “This fear, I feel it diffused everywhere today. It inhabits our daily lives, our projections for the future.”

“The first of the fears is that of not knowing where we are going. We are still in a period of great threat, of great uncertainty. But there remains nevertheless the strength of everyday life. There is childhood which is there, and the joy that emanates from it, despite everything, as a form of resistance.”

Flashing light

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Lisa Diaz and cinematographer Julia Mingo opted for natural lighting, aiming to capture the blinding southern white light. The filmmaker remembers: “And on the contrary, it was necessary to restore the chiaroscuro light of the Cévennes houses, and these summer nights lit gently and in the most natural way possible.”

“At the same time, I was concerned not to constrain my young actors with too present a technique. What mattered to us was to let them express themselves instinctively. To devote as much time as possible to my on stage to let them play, to propose.”