‘An incredible friendship’: Isabelle Huppert and Hafsia Hertz delight in a Bordeaux castle, presented at Quinzaine des filmmakers.

After the very violent and disturbing Bowling Saturn, Patricia Mazui (Girls Sports, Paul Sanchez is back) returns with a new film in a completely different register. Presented at the Quinzaine des Cinéastes, La Prisonnière de Bordeaux brings together two of the great actresses of French cinema: Isabelle Huppert and Hafsia Hertz.

What is “Prisoner of Bordeaux” about?

Alma, alone in her big house in the city, and Mina, a young mother in a distant suburb, organize their lives in the absence of two husbands who are busy in the same place… During the meeting, the two women meet and engage in a friendship both improbable and exciting…

A surprising power duo in a high-flying melodrama

For several years, French cinema has had its share of dramas and social comedies featuring bourgeois saviors of minorities with plenty of clichés, and Patricia Mazoui wanted to take the opposite approach to these types of films with La Prisonnière de Bordeaux.

Even if the premise remains the same – a white bourgeois woman who helps a young suburban mother with an immigrant background – La Prisonnière de Bordeaux brilliantly treats the class struggle with an ode to sorority and crude but welcome humor.

The sophistication of the writings of Patricia Mazoui, Pierre Courage and François Begoteau makes it possible to offer a hybrid film, sometimes social comedy, sometimes political thriller, by confronting these two opposite women in a kind of illusory friendship bubble.

“What I liked was the relationship between these two women, these beautiful female characters, this incredible friendship that develops between these two women, but at the same time, which is very realistic, because in friendship we can be friends with anyone.”Hafsia Herzi explained to us.

Because La Prisonnière de Bordeaux also stands out for its treatment of characters, delightful portraits of women who, despite their differences, are placed on the same level and ultimately help each other escape the oppression in which their respective places on the social scale live.

“Alma and Mina are both prisoners of this everyday life that they didn’t choose, but because of love, they have to live this everyday life, which is extremely difficult for people who are outside but have family or loved ones locked up.

The film shows me well, whether we are rich or poor, it affects everyone, the prison. It’s very real, because I spent a lot of time in prison, under surveillance. And it is true that there are all profiles. It’s not specific profiles, it’s really everything. “

Hafsia Herzi and Isabelle Huppert were able to create insane chemistry by completely blending into their characters, as Hafsia Herzi told us:

“With Isabel, we really let ourselves not try to intellectualize it, and it went very well. It’s also very interior. And sometimes, we don’t have to tell her everything. It’s weird, what I” I’m going to say, but it’s like we weren’t really acting in it, we were filming. heroes.”.

Breaking the pre-established codes, La Femme de Bordeaux offers a surprising but delicious duet formed by two top actors and an unusual romantic tale, but with great emotional richness.

The 56th edition of the Quinzaine des filmmakers will be held in Cannes from May 15 to 25, 2024.