In theaters since Wednesday, “The Return” is Catherine Corsini’s new film. Here are 5 things to know about this family drama set in Corsica, selected at the last Cannes Film Festival.
What is it about ? Khédidja works for a wealthy Parisian family who offers him to take care of the children for a summer in Corsica. The opportunity for her to return with her daughters, Jessica and Farah, to this island which they left fifteen years earlier in tragic circumstances.
While Khédidja struggles with her memories, the two teenagers indulge in all the summer temptations: unexpected encounters, 400 blows, first romantic experiences. This trip will be an opportunity for them to discover a hidden part of their history.
The cast of young actresses
To find the young performers for her film, Catherine Corsini wanted to carry out a wild casting. She was looking for unknown faces in the cinema. “We put up posters everywhere, but we had a lot of trouble getting the young girls to come”, she says. She eventually met some actresses and had them try out. This is how she discovered Esther Gohourou, who had already acted in Mignonnes by Maimouna Doucouré.
As for Suzy Bemba, she first presented herself to play Khedidja’s sister before being offered the role of Jessica. “I saw that she was a very good actress and offered to replace another young non-professional girl, who I had initially liked for the role of Jessica, but whose very first rehearsals unfortunately did not go through. , not proven to be convincing enough for this difficult role, where there were plenty of different emotions and states to play”, remembers the filmmaker. Finally, Lomane de Dietrich was chosen for her relaxed attitude, poise and singular naturalness.
Chaz Productions
From the Fracture to the Return
La Fracture, the previous feature film by Catherine Corsini, and Le Retour have one thing in common: the presence of Aïssatou Diallo Sagna. This caregiver made her acting debut in La Fracture, for which she won the César for best supporting actress.
The director wanted to find the actress on a new film: “We know it, you can consecrate someone, then quickly move on to something else in this profession. I was keen not to forget him, and above all to take him elsewhere: towards romance, fiction. Aïssatou also opened me up to her life, her story. Her family came on set. Thanks to her, I discovered a lot of details about the Guinean and Senegalese cultures, the relationship to the land of origin, or more concrete things like women’s hairstyles.”
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Aïssatou Diallo Sagna in “The Fracture”
Four-handed writing
Catherine Corsini co-wrote Le Retour with Naïla Guiguet, a young screenwriter who graduated from FEMIS, and whose mother is of Senegalese origin. “I wrote this story with her, because I felt too far from this youth that interests me. She nourished me a lot; we, moreover, borrowed the first name of Khédidja from her mother”explains the director.
She also tapped into her own story: “I have two sisters; a Corsican father, who died in an accident when I was very young; a mother who couldn’t stand Corsica, where she felt confined… So many elements that draw circuits and question this complex territory, like the feeling of feeling foreign somewhere.”
Emmylou Mai – Chaz Productions
Format
After having used the Scope on her last three films, Catherine Corsini decided to opt for the more classic format of 1.66: “This format was better for filming faces and for creating a sense of intensity.” She also feared that the Scope would result in a postcard aesthetic.
Controversy
The presence of the Return in the official Cannes competition was almost called into question due to acts of harassment alleged against Catherine Corsini and two members of the team, as well as a possible breach of the legislation on the protection of actors. minors, which has already earned the company Chaz Productions a request for reimbursement of aid granted by the CNC (National Center for Cinema and Moving Image) in January 2023, in the amount of 680,000 euros (including 580,000 d advances on receipts, and 100,000 automatic support).
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Suzy Bemba, Esther Gohourou, Catherine Corsini and Aissatou Diallo Sagna at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival
French legislation provides a strict framework for the employment on film sets of actors under the age of 16. Each film must thus obtain, beforehand, the green light from the Commission des Enfants du Spectacle, a body emanating from the Child Protection Committee, and composed of representatives of various institutions (judiciary, National Education, Ministry of Culture, etc.) .
However, The Return includes a scene where a teenager (played by an actress of 15 and a half years old at the time of filming) awakens to sexuality through masturbation with a boy. A scene missing from the script sent to the Commission, which was therefore unable to study it. If the producer Elisabeth Perez recognizes a fault on their part by specifying that the scene was not hidden but added during the shooting following a rewrite, the authorization request should still have been formulated.
(Re)see our meeting with the film crew during the 2023 Cannes Film Festival: