At the heart of a violent controversy highlighting the stigmatizing and "cliché" character of the iconic Breton character, the Bécassine!by Bruno Podalydès will have constituted a project a priori destined for disaster.
By placing oneself at the finish line of a painful list of comic book adaptations that have suffered failures and by focusing on an outdated and unattractive figure for the general public, we can not really say that the film was the most anticipated of the year in the French horizon. The surprise is all the more total as the success is great. The talented director of Comme un avion achieves a miracle by turning a perilous project into a fairy tale of endearing naivety. Better yet, he allows himself the luxury of inventiveness and dreamlike poetry.
Snipe but not woodcock
Starting from a simple but not simplistic plot, the film narrates the urban desires of a peasant woman (Bécassine superbly embodied by Emeline Bayart) dreaming of the capital. At the time of the big departure, she becomes, in a combination of circumstances, the nanny of an endearing little girl, Loulotte (Maya Company). Then follows the meeting with a gallery of colorful characters carried by a luxurious cast. From the Marquise Grand-Air played by Karin Viard to his advisor and friend Mr. Proey-Minans through the fantastic and touching uncle Corentin played by Michel Vuillermos without forgetting Josiane Balasko, Vimala Pons and Bruno Podalydès himself, it is clear that the result is convincing (Podalydès having surrounded himself with a large part of actors with whom he has been collaborating for a while). Because contrary to the trial of intent that is attributed to him, Podalydès (and his actors) never overlooks his characters or Brittany. On the contrary, he corrects history by granting them a finesse and intelligence that the authors of the comic strip had hitherto denied them. Bécassine is not the idiot character we make fun of but a naïve and intelligent young woman who gives herself the means to succeed. With his camera, the director sweeps Brittany by restoring all its splendour.
Poetry of the tale
But beyond a seriously reworked and nuanced myth, Podalydès injects the poetry that has always irrigated his filmography. A true ode to simplicity and wonder, he indulges in real formal daydreams. Thus, the inventiveness of the character overlaps in that of an ingenious and magical staging. The symbolic character is that of Rastaquoueros, an ambivalent and puppeteer character who appears as a double of his director who invites us to continue to transmit the stories told.
Big surprise of this month of June, Bécassine! is far from the shameful production that rumor says. On the contrary, it is a beautiful fable about childhood and the dichotomy between town and country. Far from posing an archaic world, the film is much more ambitious in its form and content. To see alone or with family, but to see to finally say that we hold here the most beautiful comic book adaptation of recent years. Refreshing!
