Night passengers : a dive into the 80s
After the touching Amanda (2018), Mikhaël Hers goes back in time with Night passengers (2022), his fourth feature film. This is In the 80s, when François Mitterrand has just been elected, the film is set. Elisabeth (Charlotte Gainsbourg), mother of two children, is left by her husband and must find a new job. It is during a late-night radio program where she works as a switchboard operator that she meets Talulah (Noée Abita), a young drug addict. Elisabeth then takes her under her wing and welcomes him into his family.
Mikhaël Hers here highlights family and human relationships. There is this touching friendly relationship between Elisabeth and Talulah, but also the first love of Matthias (Quito Rayon Richter), Elisabeth’s son, or the difficulty of seeing Judith (Megan Northman), her daughter, leave. To stage this story, which takes the form of a family saga, the director went to shoot in the 15th arrondissement of Paris. It was there, and with his technical teams on the sets, that he succeeded transcribing an era who he knew as a child, as he said in the film’s press kit.
They say that we are from our childhood as we are from a country and I wanted to immerse myself in this period of life, to revisit its ranges, its sounds, its images. I am made of these sensations, of these colors. I carry them inside me.
This also uses archive footage”,which are intertwined with the images of the film“, that the director manages to place his story so well in a specific period. While for his actors, the costumes, with “light and charming errors in clothing taste“, also helped us immerse ourselves in this era, explained Charlotte Gainsbourg.
The decoration of Elizabeth’s apartment was also an important element. When I discovered it on the set, full of ’80s objects that we don’t necessarily see on screen, it gave the film a tone that wasn’t perceptible in the script.
A conquered press
When it came out in cinemas, Night passengers was very well received by the press, achieving an excellent average of 4/5 on Allociné. Among the many laudatory reviews, we can read from Les Inrockuptibles: “The moving beauty of Passengers of the Night lies in the mystery of these films that give the sensation of seeing the most insignificant gesture transformed on the screen into a vibrant romantic act, the sublime blossoming of small nothings“. For its part, Transfuge described Mikhaël Hers’ work as “great fragile film about emotional tears“, while Télé 7 Jours underlined the “nostalgic trip to the 80s“and Première saw it”a wonderful film“.
Furthermore, the film’s cast was awarded by Télérama (“A film of great actresses“), The Parisian (“Charlotte Gainsbourg is extraordinarily sensitive“) or Paris Match (“A magnificent role for Charlotte Gainsbourg“). Indeed, Charlotte Gainsbourg is very touching Night passengers. What if we already knew the talent of Noée Abita (Ava, Slalom), the revelations are Quito Rayon Richter and Megan Northman. We can only regret itjust under 200,000 spectators discovered the film in theaters when it came out. Hopefully, regarding Amanda, a TV broadcast allows you to correct the situation. This, after gathering 260,000 viewers, attracted 1.8 million viewers in April 2021 on Arte.
Source: Cine Serie
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