At the Alpe d’Huez Festival, And more if affinities triumph, We, the Leroys dominate

With four prizes, the comedy with Bernard Campan and Isabelle Carré was the big winner of the evening. But it was Nous les Leroy by Florent Bernard who won the Grand Prix of the Festival.

And maybe more. The new comedy by Wilfried Meance and Olivier Ducray could not have imagined a better title. The two directors established the affinity this evening with the public (the film won the Audience Prize) but also with the entire jury chaired by Valérie Bonneton since this portrait of a couple won the Special Jury Prize, the Prize for Best Female Interpretation for Isabelle Carré as well as the Prize for Best Male Interpretation for Bernard Campan. Millimeter laughter, big emotional final scene and long ovation… at the end of the official screening, it was over: And maybe more had just brought the festival to its feet. Bernard Campan and Isabelle Carré play a somewhat uptight bourgeois couple. He is an embittered musician, who time has made sad and acerbic. She, more discreet, more withdrawn too, suffers from the wear and tear of their relationship. When their upstairs neighbors show up for dinner (Pablo Pauly and Julia Faure unpayable) their whole lives will be turned upside down. Effective behind closed doors, like any “dinner film” And maybe more offers an ideal playing space for its actors. Campan balances his nasty or sad jokes with precision, lays himself bare (literally and figuratively, look at the poster again) as for Carré, “stradivarius” of comedy as the two directors called him, she goes from emotion, effrontery or pure laughter, with the ease that characterizes her.

Our review of And more if affinities

In a festival which has succeeded in multiplying more distinct, and sometimes more radical, cinema proposals (the main thing was to participate, Coubertin), the jury therefore, in agreement with the public, crowned an effective comedy but of which we (re)know all the seams.

However, Valérie Bonneton and her acolytes also wanted to distinguish two more surprising films which embody a new trend in French comedy. One of the gems of this start of the festival, Repeat, leaves with the Jury’s Favorite Prize which could well salute the freedom, fantasy and happy accuracy of Emilie Noblet’s film. As for the Grand Prix du Festival, the supreme prize, it was awarded to the film by Florent Bernard, We, the Leroys. This comedy which navigates between existential drama, the chronicle of a forgotten France and character comedy, was one of the highlights of this week. Florent Bernard imposes his nostalgic gaze and offers his two main actors, Charlotte Gainsbourg and José Garcia, two touching and remarkably well-written roles.

Florent Bernard’s interview for his first film Nous, les Leroy

The complete winners of the 27th Alpe d’Huez International Comedy Film Festival:

Grand Prix of the Alpe d’Huez Festival: We the Leroys, by Florent Bernard

Audience Award at the L’Alpe d’Huez Festival: And more if you like Wilfried Meance and Olivier Ducray

Special Jury Prize of the L’Alpe d’Huez Festival: And more if you like Wilfried Meance and Olivier Ducray

Jury’s Favorite Prize at the L’Alpe d’Huez Festival: Bis Repetita by Emilie Noblet

Prize for Best Female Interpretation: Isabelle Carré in And more if affinities by Wilfried Meance and Olivier Ducray

Prize for Best Male Interpretation: Bernard Campan in And more if affinities by Wilfried Meance and Olivier Ducray

Short Film Prize ex-aequo: The Gendarmes and the Thieves by Maxime azzopardi and Adrien Guedra-Degeorges and Allez Ma Fille by Chloé Jouannet.

FAH Prize 2024 – Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region: Happy Winners of Maxime Govare and Romain Choay