Review of ‘The Triumph’

Direction: Emmanuel Courcol Distribution: Kad Merad, Marina Hands, Laurent Stocker, Saïd Benchnafa, Lamine Cissokho, Sofian Khammes Original title: a triumph Country: France Year: 2020 Release date: 02-25-2022 Gender: Comedy Script: Emmanuel Courcol, Thierry de Carbonnieres Photography: Yann Maritaud Synopsis: An actor who runs a theater workshop in a prison brings together a group of inmates to perform Samuel Beckett’s famous play ‘Waiting for Godot’.

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Inspired by a true story, the film by Emmanuel Courcol connects, in a certain way, with the latest film by Neus Ballús, ‘Six ordinary days’ (2021): the actor is not born and is formed exclusively in classrooms, sets, sets and theater institutes. And there is no single way to access this profession. Of course, here the prisoners don’t have to act like prisoners, but rather they have to memorize, that’s nothing, ‘Waiting for Godot’ to, later, unleash the immortal Beckett lines in the most correct and natural way possible. Without nerves and with complicity.

‘El triumph’ brings together two groups (the inmates and the interpreters) to understand the first and to deglamorize the second. He puts us behind bars and also tells us that the theater can continue to be that trip to nowhere. He looks at the tenants of the penitentiary center from the front and observes the entertainers with realism. Timely social criticism rounds out a film that shows us that we all have a Godot (or two, or three) to look forward to, and if he doesn’t show up for our appointment, it’s a matter of waking up and filling our existence with love and humor.