Jimmy Rivière (2011)
Directed by Teddy Lussi-Modeste

Film Review

In 2011, a year that was particularly bountiful for French film enthusiasts, with high profile hits such as The Artist and Intouchables drawing most of our attention, it's a sad fact that too many less well-publicised films failed to garner the attention they deserved.  One such film is Jimmy Rivière, a thoughtful and boldly idiosyncratic incursion into the world of modern-day travellers from first-time director Teddy Lussi-Modeste.  Having grown up in a family of travellers, Lussi-Modeste is well-suited to make a film about a community that is rarely depicted in cinema and which is still ill-regarded by those who prefer to live in a fixed abode as opposed to one with wheels.  Tony Gatlif is the only other French filmmaker of note to have embraced the life of the traveller in his films (Latcho Drom, Vengo, Swing, Liberté).  On the strength of this first feature, it seems likely that Teddy Lussi-Modeste will follow Gatlif's example and strive to give us a greater insight into a people and a way of life that is fascinating to some, but still regarded with suspicion and derision by many.

With screenwriting support from Rebecca Zlotowski (another debutant filmmaker, who found favour with the critics with her striking 2010 film Belle épine), Lussi-Modeste crafts an intimate, stylish and compelling portrait of a rebellious young man, Jimmy, who is torn between his loyalty to his community (a group of hard-line Pentecostal Christians) and a burning passion for thai boxing that refuses to be quenched.  In his first leading role, Guillaume Gouix turns in a remarkable performance, investing Jimmy with an exuberant charm whilst masterfully exposing the inner conflict that is visibly tearing him apart.  When Jimmy finally gives in to his less spiritual impulses and thereby makes himself an outsider, we can hardly fail to feel his anguish, and also his sense of release.

Jimmy Rivière is not exclusively a film about the life of travellers - it deals with wider themes, primarily how the desire to assert one's own identity can conflict with one's loyalty to one's community.  Lussi-Modeste's inexperience occasionally reveals itself, in some writing and mise-en-scène that feel overly demonstrative, but the freshness of his approach (exemplified by the quirky opening sequence) amply makes up for this.  There are some fine supporting contributions, from Hafsia Herzi (in her best role since she was first revealed in Abdellatif Kechiche's 2007 film La Graine et le mulet) and Béatrice Dalle (worryingly at ease in the part of a no-nonsense boxing coach), but it is Guillaume Gouix who takes the film and makes it his own; it is not quite so fanciful to liken his presence here to James Dean's legendary turn in Rebel With a Cause (1955).  Equipped with a deadly combination of charisma, intensity and raw talent, Guillaume Gouix looks set to become the next big thing in French cinema.

Film Synopsis

Jimmy Rivière is a young traveller who is perhaps a little too timid and willing to please those around him.  Pressurised by his community, he converts to Pentecostalism and gives up his two passions: Thai boxing and his girlfriend Sonia.  But how can he turn down the offer of a new fight from his coach?  And how can he resist the overwhelming desire that binds him to Sonia?