Two Swiss comedies at Namur
The Namur Francophone Film Festival is presenting two lively and energetic Swiss comedies, neither pretentious nor straightforward, both dealing with families whose tranquillity is interrupted by the arrival of a foreigner, which acts as a dramatic force that leads to an eruption of insinuations and family drama.
However, in My Brother is Getting Married [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jean-Stéphane Bron
interview: Thierry Spicher
film profile], the debut feature by Jean-Stéphane Bron (documentary Le génie hélvétique), the classical schema is reversed, which forms the essence and comical nature of the film.
Vinh, a boat people refugee who arrives in Switzerland at the age of 7, is getting married and his adopted family, now split up, meet Vinh’s real mother, who comes for the first time to see him in what she believes is "paradise". While everyone is trying to play their role with dignity for the foreigner, behind the scenes the family is at daggers drawn.
With sparkling performances from two great actors, Jean-Luc Bideau and Aurore Clément, My Brother is Getting Married is a series of hilarious events and a situation comedy, where the audience is invited to participate in a three-act film that depicts the conflicts of a family whose vision of their own show calls for confrontation and then discussion.
Sold by Films Distribution, the film is a co-production between Switzerland (Box Productions) and France (Les Films Pelléas)
On a lighter note, Christoph Schaub’s Jeune homme [+see also:
trailer
film profile] stars a tender and joyous Matthias Schoch, who in order to flee his overbearing family decides to become a young au pair in Geneva to learn French.
Between a frustrated and cantankerous head of family (Alexandra Vandernoot), a womanising father (Didier Flamand), a very alluring neighbour, a teenager who leads an impossible life and a disturbed young girl, the young man has hurdles to overcome and hearts to conquer. He becomes mature through confrontations in his foreign surroundings, leaving childhood behind to play the role of a mediator.
Still without a distributor in Belgium, Jeune homme is a T&C Film production. The film is being sold internationally by French outfit Onoma.
(Translated from French)
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