To see at the cinema: Dream Life, a luminous portrait of a woman with Valeria Bruni Tedeschi

what are you talking about

Nicole has a dream life. At 52, she lives in a suburban public housing project with her 19-year-old son, Serge, who can’t stand her anymore. In debt and unemployed, his checkbook and credit card are confiscated, and his wrinkles are so deep that he can’t do anything. What if, as Christmas approaches, life finally decides to smile at him?

After Count Your Wounds, director Morgan Simon presents his second feature film titled A Dream Life. Meeting with the film director at the Angoulême Francophonie Film Festival, where the film was selected for competition.

AlloCiné: How do you present this film, A Dream Life?

Morgan Simon, screenwriter and director: This is the story of a 50-year-old woman living in the suburbs of Paris whose life has completely fallen apart. Things are not going well with the son. He has no more money. Throughout the film, he experiences various things that make him stand up, realize that he can live, perhaps without a child. In any case, he must live independently until he finds a form of happiness and peace, and above all perfection.

Living the Dream brings a woman in her 50s, from a working-class…

Yes, there is a desire to show characters from other eras, women of other ages, who are clearly present in French cinema and are not always represented.

Valeria Bruni Tedeschi goes through all the phases in the movie. In addition, he never asked to be photographed in any way. He made so many films that he could make demands.

Neither Valeria nor I wanted it to be fake

There was also a desire to represent a certain social class, which is paradoxical with Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, who certainly comes from a more affluent background. He managed to embody this so truly that when I first met him, I had no doubts. And that was certainly important to me.

Really coming from that background, I didn’t want it to be a mistake. This was my biggest fear. And Valeria didn’t want it to be fake either. It was very easy to take him because he is an outstanding actor who can go to all the playing places, always, always. Which leaves a lot of room for invention and not being stuck in the strait of what is written.

A strong theme addressed in the film is the decline of the underclass and indirectly an issue explored in literature by Edward Lewis in particular. Can you tell us why this topic is important to you?

Downgrading is a fear for many. I experienced this with my mother, middle class, lower class, down to the breaking point, feeling overwhelmed with debt, sometimes even going to the Red Cross for food. It’s not something we’re proud of. And speaking of it here… this is one of the first things I expressed.

Maybe there is this responsibility to say as honest as possible, as honest as possible

Finally, I was able to make films with my voice heard, even if only in a small way. To be able to say to myself: maybe there is this responsibility to be as honest as possible, as honest as possible about this. He also took space, saying to himself: Now this exists.

We can no longer present it in a way that is not fair. Now we must consider that we are the few who can express ourselves on these topics. There is, of course, the work of Edouard Louis. There is a parallel that I discovered a few years ago. We made a film together, We’ll See You Again, a 15-minute film about migrants, where he did voiceovers. I have a feeling that he also has this responsibility to talk about these social classes, maybe talk about them differently.

When I say different, it’s just expressing the truth, in a way that we’re not used to seeing in the media. Because sometimes people in these fields don’t really come from that background, so they have preconceived ideas that are unconscious. Talking about it from these places allows us to gain a different perspective. At least that word and this look alike.

This movie is quite autobiographical, as you mentioned. How to approach the issue of intimacy in cinema?

I like this phrase from Houellebecq, who says, if I remember correctly, that “true things are made up”. Why do we talk about intimate matters? It’s because I think there’s a social point to be made. Things that I was able to do that my mother was able to do. At some point, you have to tell it all, with scenes that really existed.

There is a lot of love in the film

Anyway, I feel legitimate, and that then allows me to go much further in the fiction, to push the issues further, so that, obviously, the film is not some kind of umbilical cord. That would be the worst. It’s about finding the right balance, the right dose.

I obviously talked a little bit about it with my mother, who was very afraid of the film and, at the end of the day, is proud. Even if he finds that the house decoration was better than in the movie, all respect and love to the movie producer, Thomas Gresaud! There is a lot of love in the film. So I think that’s what wins.

Comments collected at the 2024 Angoulême French-Language Film Festival