The attacks and assassinations of Corsican nationalists, but also the ferocious repression of the French state on the island, have often made the headlines in the media in France. Far from these sensational images and spectacular covers, Corsican director Thierry de Peretti presented “À son image” at the Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival. A very nuanced fiction recounting this era with a great questioning of the image through the tragic story of Antonia, a young press photographer who fell in love with a Corsican nationalist engaged in the armed struggle. Interview.
6 mins
RFI : What is the heart of your film for you? As his look ?
Thierry de Peretti : The beating heart of my film is the main character Antonia. She is at the same time the engine, the heart and the center.
You tell this story about violence in Corsica from the point of view of Antonia, a young press photographer who falls in love with a young nationalist. Does this choice allow us to say, show or transmit new things in relation to this story? ?
It is very difficult to answer this question. This character is not limited to her romantic relationships, she is both a young photographer and a young woman of her time. These 1980s and 1990s were years of very strong political excitement. She is both a character totally linked and connected to her time and totally atypical in relation to the rejection she has of her time, of her time, of what is happening. This character questions the principle of vocation and tears it to pieces after experiencing it.
There are a lot of family scenes, there is even the Church that comes into play, then there is love and politics. Antonia is not directly involved, but through her nationalist friend Pascal. In what way does Antonia have a unique perspective on the history of violence and the history of nationalism in Corsica? ?
I don’t know if she has a unique point of view. I hope that the viewer adopts Antonia’s point of view, that is to say a point of view which is mobile, which moves. At first, she looks at it a little fascinated and a little foreign, even though she herself is connected to this story. That’s what I like: she is both completely connected to this story and at the same time she remains herself. Despite the fact that the young man she is in love with and his friends participate very actively in the political struggle. It’s as if she wasn’t there. Gradually, there is a familiarity with all questions of political radicalism and violence as a political means. Her profession, photography, will gradually connect her to the world and to others. And by connecting her to the world and to others, she will reject it. Photography allows him to unmask everything that is shown to him and that is presented to him as cash. Photography allows you to demystify everything you see or reject it.
You yourself were born in Ajaccio in 1970. As his look shows the radicalization and dogmatism of this era marked by violence. After the film’s world premiere here at the Cannes Film Festival, you noticed that not all the lessons have yet been learned from this story. Are you talking about the French state or Corsican nationalists? ?
Both. On the French State side, that’s for sure. The Corsican nationalist struggle for self-determination is a completely legitimate struggle and one that was an obligatory entry into resistance. In the 1950s and 60s, Corsica was in such a state of structural and social disrepair, desired or in any case left by the French state, that for an entire generation of young Corsicans, but not only young people elsewhere, it was a duty to take one’s destiny into one’s hands and refuse the destiny assigned to one. In the same way that Antonia refuses to be told to believe or to go where she is told to go. Then, the question of political violence and armed struggle led to abuses, excesses, murders, struggles which moved away from the original goal, self-determination. Of these most violent, hardest moments, I have the impression that there is an assessment that has not been made on the side of the French state. It’s paradoxical, because, at this very moment, there are political solutions that are being found. The head of the Corsican executive, the Corsican Assembly and the nationalists are carrying out an autonomy project. Recently, the French state has begun to consider this political project with the seriousness with which it has long owed. But that does not mean that all political questions have been resolved.
In the film, Antonia presses the shutter button on her camera to convey a reality, to seek justice. Pascal, the young nationalist, instead pulls the trigger on his weapons. Thus, he becomes a murdered assassin. And in the end both of them feel like they have failed. Is your film the double story of a double failure? ? A kind of requiem ?
If I said “failure”, that would mean that I judge the characters’ projects. What interests me is their complexity and the fact that they are larger than life characters. They are tragic characters, not everyday characters. This is what I find fascinating and admirable. These great characters are based on real people, connected to the real life of society and contemporary Corsican history. But it ends badly.
As his look, it is also the quest for the image that remains of history and in History, the search for the right image. Do you feel like you’ve found it? ?
I can’t answer that. This question needs to be asked of yourself, of those who have seen the film, of those who are connected to the story that the film tells. We will see how the film circulates over time, the months or years to come.
► As his lookdirected by Thierry de Peretti, based on the eponymous novel by Jérôme Ferrari, presented as a world premiere at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. Theatrical release in France on September 4.