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CANNES 2006 Competition / France

The loneliness of man according to Charlie

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Charlie Says [+see also:
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, the ensemble piece by French director Nicole Garcia, did not receive a very enthusiastic response from this press this morning. As far as the story is concerned, the director succeeds brilliantly in her intertwining the paths of seven main and several other secondary characters, owing to a well-defined script, elegant directing and very efficient editing. Where she fails, however, is in fully exploring the psychological depth of the main actors.

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Starring excellent actors who superbly use their talent where they are allowed little room for expressiveness (in particular Benoît Magimel, Jean-Pierre Bacri, Benoît Poelvoorde and young actor Ferdinand Martin in the role of the 11 year-old Charlie), Charlie Says is in keeping with the director's previous films on the depressive and solitary nature of human existence, which are inextricably linked to each other.

From a journey within the confines of man's original solitude to "the rupture of a fault that triggers seismic waves", the film navigates a philosophical backdrop embodied by two researchers: a top palaeontologist who returns to his hometown and a failed natural science teacher. The theme of failure runs throughout the entire film, in the romantic and professional disappointments (adulteries gone wrong, communication problems, politics, disastrous conversations, family life...) of characters from different social classes, with the young Charlie playing the role of a grain of sand that interferes in everyone's lives.

Eager to escape from his world, does he become a pariah, an exile, a criminal, or rather the last survivor of a group of enlightened individuals or perhaps even a pioneer? This is the question that Garcia asks, without giving a straightforward answer, preferring instead to paint an ambitious picture of individuals taken up with the complexity of daily life and let the audience decide by itself.

Produced by Alain Attal for Les Productions du Trésor, Charlie Says was made on a €7.8m budget, including a €350,000 advance on receipts from the CNC, €1.5m from France 3 Cinéma and a pre-sales agreement from Canal + and Ciné Cinéma. The film is being sold internationally by Wild Bunch

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(Translated from French)

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