You like the cinema of Jane Campion and Terrence Malick: you’ll be charmed by this Swiss film that was almost nominated for an Oscar.

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Summer 1900, in the middle of a valley in southern Switzerland. Elizabeth, 17, is about to take her vows in a convent after 5 years. The sudden death of his sister forces him to return to the family farm to take on the new role of head. Elizabeth quickly finds herself suffocated by this workaday life and obsessed with the mystery surrounding her sister’s disappearance. Then he will try to free himself from his status and new obligations.

A filmmaker’s perspective to follow

Winner of the Women in Motion Prize, Emerging Talent at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, Carmen Jacquier has been influencing film lovers since 2014 with her first short film Le Tombeau des Filles, which won an award at Locarno. By exploring the notion of discovering femininity, this first work laid the foundation for Swiss cinema, which then went on to explore issues of women’s emancipation in four other short films.

This year, the director signs his first full-length film, which in the 7th art landscape reflects a bit more of the filmmaker’s look and style. breaks free from masculine descriptors while constructing a feminine identity, Carmen Jaquier Here he moves his topic to the world of faith and religion. To do this, he borrowed from The Piano Lesson (Jane Campion) as well as The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick) or The Witches of Aquelar (Pablo Aguero), including French references such as Portrait of a Young Girl on Fire (Céline). Sciamma) or even Sybil (Justine Triet).

Awarded at several festivals (Swiss Film Prize, Critics’ Prize in Zurich, Director’s Prize in Marrakech) and pre-selected to represent Switzerland at the 2024 Oscars, Foudrey reveals itself as a subversive and sensory odyssey where the awakening of the senses confronts a corseted society. . With cinematography by Marine Atlant ( Le Rapissement ) and a haunting performance by Lilith Grasmuig ( Blood Orange ) in the title role of Elisabeth, this drama set in 1900 takes its roots in the news.

Women and faith

“Several seminal and revelatory moments stood out in my thinking and writing of the film. Two teenagers who set themselves on fire in the suburbs of Berlin described the story in three lines in a newspaperhe says. This tragedy reminded me how troubled I was by this period called adolescence and the emotions that go through it; Injustice, rejection, desires, anger…“

If she chose to move her story into the world of the Catholic religion, it is better to emphasize the feelings and emotions that women experience throughout life, especially during adolescence.

“It was important for me to start from the Catholic religion, which has a lot to do with the feelings of shame and inferiority that women experience, and confront it with a broader reflection, towards a gentle, friendly sexuality and care. Back to ourselves, to the body that we are, and to transcendence. God, freed from Catholic practice, becomes an infinite area of ​​reflection.“

Lightning, a true cinema experience, can be seen on the big screen from May 22, 2024.