09/03/2022 - Marion Desseigne Ravel delivers a simple, modest and very lifelike first feature film about love at first sight between girls, in the fierce and conformist context of a working-class district

"Ever since I met you, it’s like I’ve got all these different parts. My heart beats like the clappers". The magic of love at first sight, the unexpected rush we feel when we first set eyes on them, the overwhelming impulsiveness of that first kiss, the constant presence in our minds of the person we love… It’s no secret and an experience shared by many that "the heart wants what the heart wants." But there are at times obstacles to these impulses, external hostility, incomprehension, and even cultural shackles which encourage self-repression.

It’s into this territory of intense and frustrated feelings that Marion Desseigne Ravel has decided to venture with her first feature film Besties [+see also:
trailer
film profile], released in French cinemas today, 9 March, via Le Pacte. But when it comes to the topic of love between women - previously relatively well-covered in films and brought to countless viewers’ attention via the powerful medium of the 2013 Palme d’Or winner Blue is the Warmest Colour [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Abdellatif Kechiche
film profile] - the young filmmaker trained at La Fémis has aptly opted for a somewhat humble and knowingly understated approach, homing in on the tumultuous feelings of her protagonist and exploring a fire that’s more internalised than expressed and a burgeoning sweetness at odds with the relatively (though not excessively) abrupt setting of the Parisian working-class district where the story is set.

At 18 years of age, Nedjma (the brilliant and charismatic Lina El Arabi, previously on very top form in A Wedding [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Stephan Streker
film profile]) is growing up wholly at ease in the neighbourhood around her, consisting of a handful of streets where everyone knows one another and inhabited by a very tight-knit group of girlfriends, including her little sister, the boys they check in the square where each of them has their own well-defined space ("you need to teach him the rules. This is our bench"), buddies from primary school she sometimes plays football with, the youth club where they meet up, and a loving mother (her dad’s not in the picture, though it’s not discussed in the film). It’s summertime and as there’s no money for a holiday in this social setting, which is described without a hint of pessimism, they simply look at taking a trip to the Normandy seaside. But the arrival of a new neighbour, the beautiful Zina (Esther Rollande), turns Nedjma’s universe totally upside down, overwhelms her heart, sends her into the throes of love, raises instinctive questions over her own identity, and places her at odds with those around her who set about dangerously amplifying everything on social media.

Written by the director, Besties paints a simple yet pertinent portrait of the codes and values of young people from areas where the voice of the people heavily influences behaviour ("Is it true what they’re saying on Snap? Do you go out with lesbians?") and where distancing yourself from the group or shying away from conformity is swiftly interpreted as out and out betrayal. But despite its very direct surface (we always follow in the wake of likeable Nedjma), the film is also more nuanced than first it seems, with subtle layers slowly but surely applied to the picture (by way of her mother, the youth club facilitator, her best friend, her sister, her childhood boyfriend, the gang of older girls, etc.). The film’s indisputable strong point, however, is the highly sensitive approach it takes to capturing the power of emotions during the most indescribable stage of desire, and their surprising, exciting yet troubling development into the deepest possible feelings.

Besties is produced by Tripode Productions and 31 Juin Films, in co-production with France 2 Cinéma, and with Le Pacte who are also steering international sales.

(Translated from French)