Dragon’s Breath: Sensitive Fiction About Breast Cancer

What are you doing?

In Reims, a group of women meet every week on a strange boat with a dragon’s head. Sandrine, Rose-Marie, Pups and Fanny don’t know each other, but they have a common goal in the fight against breast cancer. Under the advice of their oncologist, Dr. Cuvelier, they row to avoid relapse, rebuild themselves physically and morally, but also destroy this fear that lives within them.

Tuesday 11 October 2022 at 21:10 on M6 and now available on Salto!

who is he with

Written by Clement Koch, who won the 2016 Sopadin Grand Prix for Best Screenplay for this story, Le souffle du dragon is directed by Stéphanie Pilonka.

To portray the dragon ladies at the heart of this story, the producer called on Julie de Bona (Learn to Love, Fighters) and Julie Gaye (The Perfect Mother), as well as other well-known faces to the public. French. Among the main roles we find Firmine Richard (Eight Women), Lola Deware (Astrid and Raphaela), Berenger Crieff (Syndrome E) or Annie Gregorio (Learn to love yourselfa more beautiful life).

Laurence Pierre (Cody), Francois Berleand (Sam), Arie Elmaleh (Secret of the Lake) and Amory de Creyancourt (Lies) round out this excellent cast.

And to give more authenticity to her film, Stephanie Pilonka also called on three real dragon ladies: Claire Fiaschi, Gribouil Sorton and Sylvian Juskevich.

is it worth watching

“We took a bomb in the face. And this fear that has settled in us, that we have to live with now, has driven us throughout our lives. We ordinary princesses, armed with a simple wooden sword, are going to slay a dragon.”.

Le souffle du dragon opens with these few words spoken by a character played by Julie de Bona. A powerful phrase that perfectly sums up Stephanie Pilonka’s film.

In France, breast cancer unfortunately kills more than 12,000 women every year. If the subject does not lend itself to lightness, Stephanie Pilonka still manages to offer a bright and sunny angle on the disease.

Nothing predicted the meeting of Sandrine, Fanny, Rose-Marie, Pups and Françoise. But then cancer invaded their lives. It is true that they survived, but the fight for all this is not over. To rebuild themselves and banish this fear that now resides within them, these women then dive headfirst into Dragon Boat, a therapeutic athletic discipline. On this dragon-headed boat, they get to know each other, help each other, fall in love, and live a special adventure that will change their lives forever.

Every day, these women from very different generations and social backgrounds experience very different things. Moreover, this is definitely one of Dragon’s Breath’s strengths, which also brings them to intimacy. From those who have to admit they are in remission to those who hide their illness from their husbands or even have their breasts removed, there are some fates we get to see. Despite everything, the dragon boat will be the link that will allow them to connect with each other, with life, but above all with themselves.

This side of a choral film could have caused a lot of trouble, but Stephanie Pilonka manages to bring out the least of her characters with brightness, kindness and humor.

Julie de Bona, Julie Gaye, Firmine Richard, Lola Deware, Berenger Crieff and Annie Gregorio give of themselves to give life to these everyday warriors. Sparkling and fair, they deliver successful performances, moving from comedy to emotion without a hitch. And the result is! We believe in their friendship, their participation, their solidarity and their struggle.

Without the filters and taboos surrounding cancer, the film still uses humor and lightheartedness to better highlight the reality these women are experiencing. We laugh then, especially at the character of Pups played by Berenger Crieff.

In Dragon’s Breath, Stephanie Pilonka managed to “to get used to the life where he is going to escapeThrough humor, a sober staging that allows his subject to express himself and a rich cast, he manages a tour de force of putting colors on a subject that is still too often taboo. One thing to remember from this part is that. is that there is life after cancer.

From laughter to tears, it’s a fight for life, a rebirth after hell. A fair, funny, moving and at times moving film that should not be missed!