THE OPINION OF THE “WORLD” – DO NOT MISS
After the long passage of the comet Girls on our screens, from 2012 to 2017, Lena Dunham experienced an eclipse. Camping (2018), his second series, did not survive its first season; presented this year at the Sundance festival, Sharp Stick, his second feature, sank without leaving any trace other than a few unenthusiastic critics. So much so that the announcement of the posting of the Catherine’s Book, on October 7 on Amazon Prime Video, his second film of the year, an adaptation of a novel by Karen Cushman (published in France in 1998 by L’Ecole des loisirs) aimed at teenage girls, has generated little more than a restless curiosity.
It only takes a few shots for it to give way to surprise, relief and pleasure. From the story of Catherine, daughter of an English squire who escapes the fate destined for her by her father and the order in force in the XIIIe century, Lena Dunham makes an energetic and sensitive comedy. According to the fantasies of its main character, the feature film acquires a critical mass which authorizes this story intended for young girls to break down the boundaries of gender and generation to become an almost universal entertainment (it is nevertheless not recommended for people allergic to view of Afro-descendants in medieval costume).
Catherine (Bella Ramsey) grew up in the mansion of Lord Rollo (Andrew Scott, who wore the habit in Fleabag), nobliau who for a long time lived beyond the means allowed by the income of his modest fiefdom. To restore his image, Rollo decides to marry off his 13-year-old daughter. Catherine, known as Birdy, refuses this prospect, preferring to play in the surrounding countryside with her best friend, a farm boy from the village, or to dream of her uncle, the handsome knight George (Joe Alwyn), gone to the crusades. These figures – to which must be added those of Lady Aislinn (Billie Piper), Birdy’s mother, condemned to perpetual pregnancy, and of Morwenna, the nanny (Lesley Sharp), wise and conservative – could remain cut-out paper silhouettes.
Almost motionless quest
Lena Dunham’s art lies in her way of letting the characters take on flesh, without deviating from the essential subject of the story. Sure, Catherine’s Book depicts the sad fate of women in the Middle Ages and, thereby, dissipates the pink clouds that surround the stories of princesses. But the young Catherine is not a standard bearer. Lena Dunham and her astonishing young interpreter (we discovered Bella Ramsey as a child warrior in Game Of Thrones) make these hundred minutes a funny and moving training story.
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