In theaters on June 29, La Traversée reveals several talented young actors, including Lucie Charles-Alfred, who is doing well with the role of Léa.
Directed by Varante Soudjian, La Traversée introduces us to Alex and Stéphanie, played by Lucien Jean-Baptiste and Audrey Pirault. Neighborhood educators, they take five out-of-school teenagers to cross the Mediterranean and reintegrate them through the values of the sea.
But when they arrive at the port, they come across Riton (Alban Ivanov), their skipper, a former BAC cop, who has left everything behind to flee the suburbs. These young people are his worst nightmare.
Forced, they all find themselves embarked on the same boat for a fifteen-day sea trip. One thing is certain, after this Crossing, they will no longer have quite the same vision of the world.
A LITTLE AUTHENTIC BAND
This small troupe is made up of several young actors who are mostly taking their first steps in the cinema.
The director needed them to be authentic, but they also needed to be able to act out emotions, have comedy skills and be 16 years old.
“When the casting director showed us photos of Moncef Farfar (who plays Rayane) and told us he was eighteen, we almost refused. But at the tryouts, we found him captivating, touching. He immediately understood his character in relation to the figure of the father”explains Varante Soudjian.
As for Thilla Thiam, who plays Sam, the filmmaker explains that she was accompanying someone for a casting and that he offered her to take tests. According to the director, she has an incredible naturalness.
“She said yes to experience the adventure of filming, but she is determined to become a lawyer. She was exemplary, with unparalleled concentration and precision”he analyzes.
There is also the duo of friends made up of Mamari Diarra (Mahdi) and Enzo Lemartinet (Polo). They are not actors and have accepted the challenge.
“I find it incredibly courageous. Because we asked a lot of them: to be natural, funny, touching. But on a shoot, there is also the technique, the placements in relation to the light, the movements, the connections of the gestures, the text , listening to others, assimilating indications. Like the others, they are intelligent and pick up everything”explains the director.
THE LUCIE CHARLES-ALFRED REVELATION
For the role of Léa, Lucie Charles-Alfred pulls out of the game in the midst of these little comrades with her explosive acting and her mischievous air. Initially, Varante Soudjian had another actress in mind.
“But the casting director showed us her essays for another role, and we were won over. She is urban, extroverted, modern, hyper-creative. She brought a breath of fresh air”enthuses the filmmaker.
bestimage Lucie Charles-Alfred
“Then she is very technical. As soon as she hears: “Action!” she is present and very generous in her acting. For the character, she has the explosiveness that we needed. She knows how to go from laughter to tears very well. in a snap of the fingers”says the artist.
The actress, who has false airs of Adèle Exarchopoulos in the intensity of her acting and the power of her physique, recalls the beginnings of the actress in La Vie d’Adèle. The latter exudes authenticity and sincerity.
“I can’t say I watched a lot of movies when I was younger and I still don’t see enough of them today. But I will say that it all started in the first class at the off-contract Saint John Perse High School who saved My scolarity.
Because I chose the audiovisual-cinema specialty there with Stéphane Maître as teacher, who will become my agent.she confided to the microphone of First last January.
La Traversée only marks her second role in the cinema after Placed by Nessim Chikhaoui, released in January 2022. In this film, she gives the reply to Shaïn Boumedine, revealed in Mektoub My Love by Kechiche.
The young actor plays Elias. Because he has forgotten his identity card, he cannot pass the entrance exams to Sciences Po. Looking for a job while waiting to be able to present himself again, he becomes an educator in a Maison d ‘Children with a Social Character.
As for Lucie Charles-Alfred, she slips into the costume of Emma, a teenager with a strong character who gives her educator a hard time. She literally bursts the screen in the costume of this character.
FUTURE PROJECTS
Soon, the young actress will share the poster with Romane Bohringer in Petites, directed by Julie Lerat-Gersant.
The story will follow Camille, who finds herself pregnant at 16. She finds herself placed in a maternal center by the children’s judge.
Weaned from a loving but toxic mother, she befriends immature young mother Alison (Lucie Charles-Alfred) and struggles against the authority of Nadine, an educator as passionate as she is disillusioned. These meetings will upset his destiny.
Before Placed, Lucie Charles-Alfred made her real debut in front of a camera in the TV movie Les Héritières, directed by Nolwenn Lemesle for Arte.
Alongside her cinematic adventures, the young woman had her BAC and was accepted at the Sorbonne for a history degree.
“But I didn’t have time to go! Because I’ve had the chance to work non-stop since then. First a comedy, La Traversée de Varante Soudijan with Alban Ivanov and Lucien Jean-Baptiste. Then a short film, my cam, where I play the young mother of a sick daughter.
And I’m going to continue on Bendo, Nawell Madani’s series for Netflix. So I was a little overwhelmed by events but I couldn’t have dreamed of better!”she said during her interview for Première on January 12.
“From the start, I was often told to be careful with my phrasing, my suburban side, that it risked locking me into a job very quickly.
But I was lucky to be offered really different roles. And I think I have in me the will to refuse these shackles and to shatter them”concluded the young actress.
THE PLACED TRAILER