Locarno: a list haunted by violence

The jury attributed the golden leopard to “Rule 34”, from the Brazilian Julia Murat, a daring and destabilizing film.

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Until the end, the 75 e edition of the Locarno International Film Festival (from August 3 to 13) will have surprised, by its choices and its risk -taking, with a largely open competition to new authors, abolishing in fact almost any border between the official selection and the parallel sections. This gesture of the artistic director Giona A. Nazzaro, appointed in 2020, extends, even amplifies, the impulse given by his predecessors (Olivier Père, Carlo Chatrian). During the last decade, gold leopards have been attributed to rare works, a cinema of reality close to plastic art: From What Is Before, the Philippin Lav Diaz, in 2014, Mrs. Fang, from Chinese Wang Bing, in 2017, or Vitalina Varela, Portuguese Pedro Costa, in 2019.

Saturday August 13, the jury, chaired by the Swiss producer Michel Merkt, rewarded directors little or not known, most of them being women: the golden leopard was attributed to Rule 34, of the Brazilian filmmaker Julia Murat, born in 1979. This third feature film, which does not yet have a distributor in France, follows the itinerary of a law student, Simone (Sol Miranda), invested in questions of mistreatment of women. However, her own fantasies lead her into a universe connected to violence, Simone watching her sadomasochistic performances on the Internet, and engaging in her personal life to extreme experiences.

Summary Thus, the scenario might seem touting, but the writing of the film turns out to be subtle, leaving all the space to the heroine to probe her impulses, build her identity, at the crossroads of minority struggles. Fiction avoids any overlooking, capturing on the spot on the days and nights of his character: his legal discussions with the teachers, his perplexity as to the ability of the justice to help victims; Her moments of letting go in front of the computer, when she makes the show “in front” the customer with his Afro cut; Finally, his transes in love on the razor thread, with his partner (interpreted by Lucas Andrade). They hurt themselves, while sharpening their sensations, a torture and a delight always granted, each expressing their limits, in a climate of sweetness disorganizing any attempt at binary analysis. No executioner in this story, but something else, abrasive and rare.

unjustly forgotten

Rule 34 turned upside down the selection committee, explains to the world the “boss” of Locarno, Giona A. Nazzaro: “We chose very early, as of February or March, the film by Julia Murat, which looked like nothing From what we knew. We have to go to the grounds where we never ventured, otherwise we only duplicate what we have already seen, “said the programmer, while saluting performance of the actress, who is also engaged in politics. Sol Miranda will present itself, under the label of the Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB), in the legislative elections in Brazil, which will take place on October 2, the same day of the first round of the presidential election. On the eve of the duel announced between Lula and Bolsonaro, the price awarded to Locarno necessarily acts as a symbol.

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