Next Wednesday comes out in theaters Players, the first feature film by Marie Monge. Presented during the 71st Cannes Film Festival, the film was selected for the Directors' Fortnight. Headlining: Stacy Martin (Nymphomaniac, The Fearsome) and Tahar Rahim (A Prophet, Samba).
One evening, Abel arrives at Ella's restaurant. Abel and his friendly smile, Abel and his mischievous charm, Abel and his addiction to the gaming circle. From then on, she is propelled into a world of defiance and love that she did not envision.
The world of gaming circles
The film delves into the sacred years of Parisian gaming circles. An underground world but not clandestine, made of financial meanders and bets, where adrenaline and violence are the key words. Marie Monge fully reconstructs this universe and integrates the spectator through an embedded camera game that is almost like a documentary. The functioning of these places, now almost disappeared, is explained in the service of the plot. The director even manages to provoke this feeling of unprecedented experience and danger characteristic of the environment. A thrill of excitement runs through us when Ella puts on her chips for the first time and discovers the world in which Abel lives. A dark universe that contrasts with the scenes of life and love that the two characters share in parallel.
Tahar Rahim or the Femme Fatale
The inspiration of film noir is notable in the work of Marie Monge. But the director decides to reverse the codes. Ella is gradually imprisoned in this realm of the game by Abel and is forced to make desperate decisions. Here, it is Tahar Rahim who embodies the role of the Femme Fatale. The 37-year-old actor is more than credible as a mischievous seducer addicted to games. He seduces Ella and convinces her, step by step, to cross all barriers with him. Filled with charming smiles, challenges and promise, he pushes her to deny everything she knows to serve her own cause. The camera films Tahar Rahim as a femme fatale. With many profile shots and three-quarters, close-ups on his games of looks, everything is done so that Abel seduces us. He represents temptation, bewitchment and, like Ella, we follow him through the dark maze of addiction.
Mirror of addiction
If Players seems to address gambling problems, it turns out to be focused on addiction in general. It is a double descent into hell that we are witnessing. That of Abel who can not stop frequenting the circles, but also that of Ella. She witnesses Abel's fall, while trying to catch up with him. Love is as powerful as play and it is this love that Ella is now dependent on. She does not realize that in truth she sinks with Abel and becomes the mirror of her addiction. Stacy Martin delivers a bluffing performance, all in subtlety and unspoken. The success also lies in the handling of the camera that plays on the close-ups to capture and make live each disorder and state of mind of the young woman.
A successful first feature film for Marie Monge, who recreates a whole universe in a very realistic way and brilliantly addresses the theme of addiction in all its forms. Players depicts a dark and little-known Paris that leaves a taste of forbidden travel. After the session, there remains this impression of an adrenaline shot. See you on July 4, 2018 to discover the addictive journey of Abel and Ella. A date, significant for Tahar Rahim since it is also the date of his birthday.
