To see at the cinema: a funny and unusual nugget, perfect for the end of the year holidays!

In your theaters this week, don’t miss Father’s Daughter, a true gem that portrays a father-son relationship like no other, freewheeling, whimsical, poetic.

The story of Etienne, who was barely twenty when he fell in love with Valérie and barely older when their daughter Rosa was born. On the day Valerie leaves them, she chooses not to film the drama. Etienne and Rosa build a happy life. Sixteen years later, when a young girl has to go to study and everyone has to leave to live, the past resurfaces.

Two rising stars of French cinema…

A hymn to family that comes just in time for the holiday season later this year, Father’s Daughter is led by actor Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, who is extremely moving in the role of this abandoned but struggling father. In 120 beats per minute and Au Revoir là-haut, the actor offers an extraordinary performance as the frail and burlesque Buster Keaton, wide-eyed and ill-defined.

Next to him, more charming than ever, Celeste Brunkel (featured in Les Eblouis and more famously in Therapie) is quieter, but just as funny and above all luminous. It was in Cannes, where the film was screened at the end of critics’ week, that we met the actor, shy but happy to be there and to wear this gem of a project, in the image of a well-considered choice. his young career.

A different, burlesque world, through the eyes of a real author

“I try to be very careful when choosing films, because the most important thing for me is to be honest, which I can do. It is important to be clear about things and then be able to completely surrender to something that you really have. believe it It’s hard to explain because it’s so instinctive.” Celeste Brunkel told us before elaborating:

“As a viewer, I am also quite demanding. I like cinema very much and I believe in the possibility of creating new forms. I choose time to make choices, that’s why and the fact that I played. in therapyIt gave me the opportunity to spend this time with this character that people identified with…”

Fresh and innovative, Father’s Daughter also appealed to the intelligent actor, who had already enjoyed his directorial debut:

“I saw the first movieErwan Le Duc And I loved it. And already, while reading the script, I saw the sensitivity and intimacy of the topic. What did he want to say? We met then and we have the same way of watching movies. It has a real identity, a different world, burlesque through the eyes of a real author. The author, who knows how to move like making people laugh in this film, thrives on gags and comic discoveries.

…serves the father-son relationship like no other

“Rosa, my character, is not the most fun and fantastical character in the film, and I had to distance myself from that a bit, and I had quite a strong gap, but it was placed elsewhere. I wasn’t very observant. All these worlds that explode together. All my partners at work I learned a lot from seeing them be so funny, honest and charming.” Celeste Brunkel explained further.

Admittedly, the actors – and characters – who gravitate to her side are all inspiring and wonderful. Special mention to the invaluable roles of the epic poet boyfriend (Mohamed Lourid), the disillusioned real estate agent boyfriend, the city mayor in crisis (the brilliant Noemi Lvovsky) and the healthy and calm lover (the moving Maude Wyler).

A relationship of true equality and a physical resemblance between our two persons, both minors

“Ervan, despite the time constraints, left us a lot of room for our ideas, as well as for the occasion on the set. What allows the object to transform the scene. And the funny thing was, “On the set, it was. If we forget the written and learned text and start from the beginning with the baggage of rehearsals. We could leave the stage by exhausting everything we could try before.” Describes Celeste Brunkel.

Perfect teamwork with the magnified duet he created with Nauel Pérez Biscayart:

“There is a physical resonance between us,” he comments “Something instinctive, obvious, without artifice.” All serve a father-son relationship marked, among other things, by a relationship of total trust: “I think this show piece, this love story, is glorious, with a real relationship of equality and a physical resemblance between our two people, both minors. We don’t really know where they are in parenting and how they both build their lives. around their relationship.” Which is what makes their story so interesting.

Funny and exciting, Daddy’s Daughter will brighten up your year-end after conquering Cannes. Don’t miss this charming opus featuring two near and dear heroes, one dealing with the loss of a loved one, the other dealing with the loss of a mother, and for whom, despite everything, “love is not lost”No place for drama, skillfully balancing the poetic and comic and armed with funny and brilliant reflections on death, love and sex. Only this.

Discovered in cinemas from 20 December 2023.