The sweet, whimsical and poetic comedy hits theaters this Wednesday. It’s La page blanche, based on the comics by Bullet and Penelope Baggier. Sarah Giraud is flanked by Grégoire Ludig and Pierre Deladonchamp.
What is it about?
Eloise finds herself sitting alone on a Paris chair. Who is he ? what is he doing there He doesn’t remember anything! Then he begins an investigation, full of surprises, to find out who he is. What if this amnesia allowed him to find who he is, who he loves, and reinvent his life?
From comics to movies…
A free adaptation of Bullet and Penelope Baggier’s eponymous comic book (published by Delcourt editions), Muriel Magellan’s The White Page follows the charming and poetic heroine Eloise, played by Sara Giraudeau. A comedy full of charm that gently touches on more dramatic themes.
“I immediately loved the angst, the search for it… and the alternation of poetry and humor that the comics carried,” explains director Muriel Magellan, on the film’s press set.
The filmmaker tried to find the right distance to convey the humor and incongruity created by the situations that the character experiences. “There’s a quote from Chaplin that I like that I’ve included in the script: Seen up close, life is a tragedy, seen from afar, a comedy. (…)
A set designed to let the heroine escape into fantasy
As a work of film adaptation, La Page blanche has a good idea, beautiful and inventive, to include several sequences in the painting (an idea we find elsewhere, in a different and equally inventive, other. Cécile DeVault’s Everybody Loves Jeanne, which opens on September 7. In this case, it’s painted decorations.In addition to appealing to the comic-matrix, it allows us to leave realism to remember fiction.“, director and screenwriter Muriel Magellan emphasizes.
While the film pays homage to the original comic book, including author Penelope Baggier, Muriel Magellan has distanced itself from certain aspects, particularly the fantasy side of the comic book in its exploration of characters. “The comic has a pretty magical contemplative side to it when you read it, but it wasn’t enough for the movie script to accommodate.“
He adds: “For example, I chose (in agreement with the authors) to solve the mystery of what happened on that chair, while Bullet and Penélope Baguier left the reader in suspense. On the other hand, I don’t think I’ve gotten that far in my comics background.”
Sarah Giraudeau on the white page
The sweet-dreamy side of the character really exists and is central to the plot: “On his soul, somehow. His funny-introspective free side. I think I’m very loyal to him because that’s what bothered me, what excited me, his “inner citadel” in a way!”
The director has many references to this first achievement for cinema (in the past he directed the TV movie Moi, grosse). Muriel Magellan quotes Noah Baumbach’s Frances Ha, a portrait of a woman in search of identity, including an interesting turning point where the character realizes the direction she wants to go. He also quotes Mike Leigh’s Be Happy, another portrait of a woman. “Finally, I’ve seen a lot of Woody Allen’s Alice, for the visual world and its slightly supernatural side (Alice becomes invisible), which, like Eloise’s amnesia in her chair, is an implicit contract with the audience,” she adds.
A romantic comedy under the influence and “Existential“, with a delightful cast: around Sarah Giraud, who perfectly matches the sweet fantasy of the character, we meet Grégoire Ludig (le Palmashow), Pierre Deladonchamp (L’Inconnu du lac, Les Chatouilles), Sarah Suko (Discount, Les Invisibles), Djanis Bouzyani (You deserve love), Doully (as children at the same time) and a small appearance of Stéphane Guillon.
Source: allocine

Emily Jhon is a product and service reviewer at Gossipify, known for her honest evaluations and thorough analysis. With a background in marketing and consumer research, she offers valuable insights to readers. She has been writing for Gossipify for several years and has a degree in Marketing and Consumer Research from the University of Oxford.