Yoroi: Orelsan returns to cinema with a very personal fantasy action film

Since far and in the post! By Quentin Dupierre, Orelsan returns to cinema with Yoroy, which he co-wrote with his longtime collaborator David Tomaszewski.

Behind the fantasy action comedy, the film hides an intimate and symbolic subtext that is deeply connected to the rapper’s obsessions: burnout, fatherhood, addictions, fame and the battle with his own demons.

A metaphor for armor

Yoroishi Aurelien (Orelsani) moves to Japan with his pregnant wife, Nanako (Clara Choi). Discovering ancestral armor in a well, he frees supernatural beings: the Yokais. But behind Japanese folklore, the story mostly takes place within the character.

The armor is a metaphor for fame – the suffocating protection that the artist is trying to remove. “We wrote with the idea that Orelsan was going to play himself. Or at least, a version of himself that was invented in the continuity of his albums. We had to make a film that made sense: Orelsan had to create demons that are actually his inner demons.

We took inspiration from real demons from Japanese mythology and invented new ones from scratch. The pitch has always been about knowing how to clean up your life and your demons when you’re expecting a child.” Director David Tomaszewski explains in the press kit.

This symbolism is part of a continuum in Orelsan’s albums, which often intersect with identity, the fatigue of success, and the difficulties of remaining oneself in the eyes of others.

Anxiety personified

The monsters that attack Aurelien and Nanako every night don’t just come from Japanese mythology: they embody her anxiety. Kazoku, the clay monster, represents the weight of the family. Kako-oni evokes toxic relationships and addictions from the past. SNS-Utoka symbolizes digital harassment and the toxicity of social networks, while Seiji-Oni symbolizes the political and media pressure that Orelsan was often subjected to. Eventually, the invisible Hihansha, the destructive inner critic, gives birth to Orelsama, the hero’s evil alter ego.

Orelsani explains about his demon double in the press kit: “To me, Sama is first and foremost the worst thing about Aurelien, she really represents her base instincts. It was Aurelien who decided to be evil and let go of all his bad feelings and burnout.

And this is also a caricature of a populist leader: for the people he condemns the truth, while he is not happy with anything, he just has hatred, he wants to create chaos based on the feeling of reaction. And at the same time it’s funny, because we all want to be the one who does as he wants in a humorous way and under the guise of freedom. It’s really fun to play.”

intense exercise

During the planning for several years – since then David Tomashevsky And Orelsan began writing a film about armor in 2012, after the music video “they are cool” – This action film required a lot of physical training in Orelsan. The singer explains in the press kit that he started working out “7-8 years ago, more or less regularly.”

He adds: “In general, I trained regularly, at least twice a week. Then there was a period at the beginning of the production of the film with the stuntmen, and by the end of that preparation I was training 6 to 7 hours a day. Then I was starting from scratch. I’m not like people who did taekwondo or karate or gymnastics, and who were flexible and flexible. That’s why we had to build everything and it took time.”

Orelsan then spent a month training in Japan with stunt coordinator Koji Kawamoto and his teams, who were particularly working on John Wick.

I had two hours of training for the armor

Another difficulty was the famous armor, as the rapper points out.

“When you watch Knights of the Zodiac, it’s cool, but the armor, in real life, you can never walk in it, I had two hours of training every day and I admit that in the end I couldn’t take it anymore.

And it made action scenes quite difficult because the armor could prevent movement. Like a wetsuit. So, in the end, it fit well with the idea of ​​a hero who was tired of wearing armor. “

Themes of Orelsan’s albums

As in his albums “civilization” or “The party is overOrelsan explores the dilemmas of adulthood here: the fear of disappointment, the pressure to succeed, fatherhood. Thus, Yoroi appears as a cinematic continuation of his songs.

The rapper emphasizes:True, Yoroishi is a form of mixing all albums. It was important to discuss topics that were different, but topics that were similar to mine. This was an opportunity to consider, as the hero reaches a certain stage in his life: he is approaching forty, his wife is pregnant, and he is asking himself a lot of questions. As if I could better resolve the issues I thought I had resolved. There was an idea that the development of the hero, somewhere, forced me to develop.”

In the end, one question remains: What if this whole adventure was just Orelsan’s dream at the end of his concert?

Yoroy May appear in theaters.