No waves: a strong gesture on a hot social issue (criticism)

A teacher accused of harassment by one of his students. Starting from a personal story, Lussi-Modeste creates a fascinating film full of nuances and complexity.

It's not easy to arrive in theaters with a headwind, especially in such an unfair way! In February, the trailer for No waves ignited the Internet, its detractors reproaching, in its vision, in the film… everything that it is not: the incriminating portrait, without nuance, of a schoolgirl seeming to wrongly accuse of harassment her teacher whose authority would be enough for us to believe him and not her. As a provocative gesture on a hot social issue.

However, in this scenario co-written with Audrey Diwan, Teddy Lussi-Modeste (Jimmy Riviere) seeks precisely the opposite: to tell the complexity of situations too often told in a Manichean way. A gesture all the more strong and resilient since he himself found himself in this situation as a teacher in Aubervilliers (and was cleared of it). Because more than the truth about what really happened, No waves emphasizes the notion of perception of things. It shows, for example, how the young Leslie really believed in this harassment because by wanting too much to be close to her students and cool, her teacher (François Civil, remarkable) created – unintentionally – competition between them and the feeling of abandoning some when he prefers others. And this while describing how his hierarchy will abandon the latter for fear of when will we say.

In our world doped with news stories where any attempt at balanced speech is swept away by the race for buzz, No waves provides an essential counterbalance. Don't trust the rumors, dive into the heart of the complexity it offers.

Of Teddy Lussi-Modeste. With François Civil, Toscane Duquesne, Shaïn Boumedine… Duration: 1h32. Released March 27, 2024