A L'OUEST begins with a poetic tracking shot along a field full of white, faded flowers at sunrise until we see a young man and his horse, into whose black, oracular eye we look. It is a film about longings, disappointed hopes, family ties, love and growing up. But also about myths and how they inspire our imagination and help us to go our own way. Written and directed by Antonin Bonnot, the short film shows the development of the protagonist on three time levels.
The story of the film is told by a breathtakingly beautiful camera work by Marc Stef, whose cinemascope images reflect the expanse of the wistful landscape as well as the tense inner life of the characters. Immersed in intense colors like from a late Fassbinder film, the questions of life are asked: "What do you want to do with your life?" The parents act like children in a Douglas Sirk film: they show little understanding, they are trapped in their own role models and the unspoken of their own patriarchal past.
Maxence Danet-Fauvel plays the role of Tom very convincingly: dreamy, desperate and in love, he manages to captivate the audience with his play. Nicole Gueden is the age-wise grandmother you always wanted and has one of the strongest appearances in the film that moved me a lot.
For director Antonin Bonnot it was the graduation film at the Les Ateliers du Cinéma film school founded by Claude Lelouch in Beaune, France. Bonnot knows his cinematic role models inside out and knows how to tell strong visual stories in film that do not leave the viewer indifferent. It is to be hoped that further films will follow after this successful debut.
The story of the film is told by a breathtakingly beautiful camera work by Marc Stef, whose cinemascope images reflect the expanse of the wistful landscape as well as the tense inner life of the characters. Immersed in intense colors like from a late Fassbinder film, the questions of life are asked: "What do you want to do with your life?" The parents act like children in a Douglas Sirk film: they show little understanding, they are trapped in their own role models and the unspoken of their own patriarchal past.
Maxence Danet-Fauvel plays the role of Tom very convincingly: dreamy, desperate and in love, he manages to captivate the audience with his play. Nicole Gueden is the age-wise grandmother you always wanted and has one of the strongest appearances in the film that moved me a lot.
For director Antonin Bonnot it was the graduation film at the Les Ateliers du Cinéma film school founded by Claude Lelouch in Beaune, France. Bonnot knows his cinematic role models inside out and knows how to tell strong visual stories in film that do not leave the viewer indifferent. It is to be hoped that further films will follow after this successful debut.
