06/08/2012 - François Pirot’s static road movie Mobile Home, recently selected to compete at the Locarno Film Festival, is a contemporary fable

Simon, in his early thirties, leaves town, his girlfriend, and his job, and returns home to live with his parents in the village. But not for long. One night, he and his old friend Julien sit up reminiscing. They decide to finally act upon an old dream they had as teenagers: to drop everything, hit the road, and live a wandering life made up of chance meetings and small jobs.

Simon and Julien are struggling to find their place in the world, while others are moving on. At best, they are turning round in circles. The only option is to leave. To look elsewhere, rather than at themselves. "What are we going to do, Simon?” asks Julien, “What are we going to find?" But the question they should probably be asking themselves is, “What are we setting out to find?”

Simon and Julien’s story is set in a generic "one day, somewhere”, which gives the story the quality of a fable. The film’s main actors (Arthur Dupont and Guillaume Gouix) are charming and spontaneous, and have good chemistry between them. Thanks to their performance, through his comedy about the fashionable ill of procrastination, François Pirot raises questions. When do we grow up, and should we really do so? Does choosing always mean giving something up? Simon is living this fantasy that we all have at one point: What if I wasn’t made to live in this society? What if I didn’t fit in one of these boxes?

With modesty and humour, François Pirot had captured a little Zeitgeist in his feature debut, and has so managed to please the Locarno selectors. Mobile Home is produced by Joseph Rouschop and Donato Rotunno for Tarantula, and co-produced by Urban Factory, with the support of the CCA, the RTBF, Wallimage, the CNC, and the Luxembourg Film Fund. Urban Factory is handling international sales. The film is to be released in Belgian cinemas on August 22 (Cinéart), and on August 29 in France (DistriB Films).

(Translated from French)