Casually: a good little comedy (Review)

The first film by actor Mathias Mekluz fits with verve into the lineage of English social comedies.

There is Full Monty in this Casually, comedy released in early 2020 in cinemas, which will be rebroadcast this evening on C8. A bias fully assumed through a nice wink where the unemployed queue at the postal bank to withdraw the meager money they hope to receive.

With his first film, Mathias Mlekuz demonstrates that social comedy is not the prerogative of the British alone. To each his own style. Where the English often fight to change their lives, our French will lead a fight for their city, their soul. In a town in the north of France where unemployment is the daily life of many, one last symbol is about to fall: the dismantling of the old mine, closed thirty years ago. Old miners opposed this by doing a sit-in in front, blankets on their knees. It is there that they lull those who have come to support them with the story of their struggles. The idea then emerged to transform this piece of industrial heritage into an amusement park.

The film is inhabited by a beautiful energy; it is led by a surprising and serious Arnaud Ducret, decked out in a priapic white clown played by Philippe Rebbot. The unusual duo brings together a diverse and friendly collective. Because Casually also gives a good place to very good supporting roles: Hélène Vincent as a mother suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and Rufus as a former miner. Even if it is not free of awkwardness, this first film has some lovely moments and a good dose of optimism in store for us.

The Full Monty is first of all a funny film, very funny even (review)