And the party continues! : A great Guédiguian (review)
Return to Marseille and his family of actors for the filmmaker with a new luminous film on the commitment that is transmitted from generation to generation
The start of the new Guédiguian can be destabilizing. Once the framework of the story is established – the collapse of two buildings on rue Marseille d’Aubagne in 2018 – the establishment of the characters and their interaction goes in all directions, like an agit-prop happening where speech is taken, stolen instead of given. And then little by little, without ever losing this dynamic and the awkwardness that goes with it, the puzzle takes shape around a central figure, a nurse with commitment in her heart pushed by her comrades to run for office at the Town Hall ( a character who echoes Michèle Rubirola, winner of the municipal elections in 2020), around whom revolve her colleagues, her brother, her children and even a possible new love arriving in her life when she no longer expected it. Through them, what they go through in their private lives as citizens, Guédiguian speaks about the subject that has always driven him: his refusal to remain passive in the face of the misery of the world, his love for those who destroy the devastating every man for himself . And if in The villa And Gloria world, a certain darkness, a feeling that the fighters of yesterday had not found heirs pointed out, And the party continues! is exactly the opposite. Surrounded by his family of actors (Ariane Ascaride, Gérard Meylan, etc.), Guédiguian once again believes in the light at the end of the road and celebrates this young generation who are taking up the fight, with the same energy and the same utopia as the elders of whom he is part. We come out feeling full and with a few tears in the corners of our eyes.
By Robert Guédiguian. With Ariane Ascaride, Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Lola Naymark… Duration 1h46. Released November 15, 2023
