‘Passengers of the night’: Paris in the prodigious decade

Described as the contemporary Éric Rohmer, such a comparison, although it seems bold, describes the style of French director Mikhaël Hers very well. Five years ago he created a real cinematic jewel entitled ‘My life with Amanda’, in which he was able to portray, with great delicacy and with the eyes of routine and everyday life, the consequences of a terrorist attack. Now, the director looks back to perform a love song in Paris in the 80s with ‘Passengers of the night’, awarded with the prize for the best screenplay in the 67th edition of the Seminci de Valladolid.

The film begins with François Mitterrand’s rise to power in 1981 and culminates in 1988 with the arrival of Jacques Chirac as prime minister. and that it was the cornerstone of the future change of scenery at the Elysée. In fact, both political moments are a simple scenario to tell the parallelism of that time of change with the emancipation process of the film’s protagonist, Élisabetha woman who sees how, at 40 and a housewife, she has to change her life after her husband has abandoned her.

His has the ability to tell the life that passes and he does it with a beauty and an affection for his characters that, of course, make him fully part of his proposals. In the case of ‘Passengers of the Night’, it shows a story in which this process of autonomy is developing little by little, creating a fascinating female character. His, who wrote the screenplay together with Maude Ameline and Mariette Désert, ends up configuring a choral storyin which the children of Élisabeth and Talulah, a young woman that Élisabeth helped, evolve and learn about life.

It is Hers’ way of portraying the passage of time that mesmerizes and fascinates. The director chooses to create a story that exudes nostalgia, but doesn’t try to be nostalgic. It is, once again, the details that carry that spiritcombining archival material of the time, sequences shot in different formats – here the photography of Sébastien Buchman is fundamental – or scenes that refer to everyday moments of the 80s, such as when the children of Élisabeth and Talulah go to the cinema and see ‘ Full Moon Nights’, a direct reference to Rohmer. There is also that accomplice Paris, with which Hers painstakingly portrays the daily life of the 15th arrondissement, in particular the Beaugrenelle district, built in the 70s.

His is confirmed once again as a clear heir to Rohmer’s cinematic style

That moment of changes, architectural, political, social, cultural, are seen organically, as background of the process of change of its protagonists, who are the reflection of a decade that is remembered with affection, but which was surrounded by problems, which Hers addresses fully, albeit in an affectionate and affectionate way with his characters, without forgetting that sordid point that marked a decade marked by drug addiction and insecurity. However, His seeks to reclaim inner strength and the desire to improve and survive, which is why Charlotte Gainsbourg’s interpretation is so powerful.

Gainsbourg, although previously distinguished by her affinity for extreme roles, has spent a season in which she stands out for seemingly mundane characters, with a soul in everyday and everyday heroines. His role in “Passengers of the Night” is perhaps the most representative, as it becomes one of the most applauded in his recent filmography. His desire to improve himself, not to be overwhelmed, to look face to face at the present and the future, is fascinating. She is the engine of change for the rest of the characters, her children, her collaborators (here we have to mention Emmanuelle Béart’s role as a grumpy radio host), her neighbors. His paints a careful portrait of those women who have rediscovered themselves at a time when it seemed impossible to do so.

‘Night Passengers’ is more a tribute to the life of Parisians in the 1980s, coming from districts far from the central almond of the capital, which idealized love letter to the decade. His confirms himself as a chronicler of detail, of a French reinterpretation of the slice of Japanese life. It is impossible not to get carried away by the energy of a film that once again recalls that intimate cinema with an author’s stamp.

Note: 8

The best: How Hers combines archival images with real ones, a tribute to everyday life like going to the cinema or to the library. The fascinating interpretation of Charlotte Gainsbourg.

Worse: Its apparent lightness means that its history is underestimated.