Les Révoltés (2015)
Directed by Simon Leclère

Film Review

With Les Revoltés, first-time director Simon Leclère gives the gritty social realist drama shades of dark and light by incorporating elements of thriller and teenage romance, the result being a film that engages far more with its compassionate handling of familiar themes than with its technical competence.  On the social realist front, Laurent Cantet's Ressources humaines (1999) covers similar ground far more convincingly, avoiding the flagrant Manichaeism that runs through Leclère's debut offering like an all-too-visible and rather ugly watermark, and if the director had entertained hopes of competing with the Dardennes brothers he is clearly deluding himself.  Leclère's film has many of the shortcomings you would expect of a first film, and yet, imperfect though it is, it engages the emotions in subtle and surprising ways and leaves you convinced that its author is a talent to watch out for.

The film has one superb ace up its sleeve, in the casting of Paul Bartel and Solène Rigot in the two lead roles.  These two actors, both in their early twenties, look set for bigger and better things, having already attracted considerable critical attention, with Bartel nominated for the Most Promising Actor César in 2014 for his role in Les Petits princes (2013).  There's a distinctly dangerous edge to the baldly naturalistic performances that Bartel and Rigot bring to Les Revoltés, one that vividly expresses the insolence and impetuosity of late adolescence, with an iron-clad self-belief that at this age you really can change the world.  It is because their characters ring true so powerfully that the others in the film appear too vague and archetypal to have a positive impact.

The film's most grievous failing is that it takes far too simplistic a view of the social concerns underpinning the drama.  The bosses are the villains, acting irresponsibly and heartlessly out of pure self-interest.  The workers are the victims, ruthlessly exploited by an unfair system that offers them no security and a precarious life on a low wage that may be taken from them at any moment.  Leclère's concerns are admirable and sincerely expressed, but his film is undermined by such an obvious them-versus-us mindset that prevents the characters from acquiring a real identity.  Fortunately, there is more to this film than factory floor argy-bargy, and it is with its central love story that Les Revoltés most impresses, scripted and directed with delicacy and authentically played by two of French cinema's most promising young talents.

Film Synopsis

19-year-old Pavel works at the factory in the town where he lives, just as his father and grandfather did before him.  He spends his leisure time on the banks of the Loire with his childhood friend Anja, whom he is now secretly in love with.  Pavel is confident that Anja will become his life partner but she has other ambitions, hoping for a better life once she has passed her final year exams.  As the factory introduces a programme of redundancies, Anja allows herself to be seduced by Antoine, the boss's son.  For the first time in his life, Pavel finds he is no longer certain of anything.