How to evoke the Paris attacks? In recent years, many works have taken up the subject, with various angles, from the Netflix documentary series Fluctuat nec mergitur, to the police reenactment offered by Cédric Jimenez's Novembre. Revoir Paris focuses on the victims and their reconstruction. Inspired by the survival of her brother during the evening of the Bataclan attack, director Alice Winocour said she wanted to tell the story of the resilience of the victims, and their defense mechanisms. At the 48th César ceremony, Virginie Efira won the César for best actress.
Mia, played by Virginie Efira, finds herself by chance in a brewery, one evening, in which an attack suddenly occurs. In the weeks that follow, she has almost no memory of this night of horror. She then decides to investigate, to reconstruct the drama and finally be able to return to a normal life.
By taking up a subject that is still very recent for those who lived through it, Revoir Paris shakes up every scene. The wound that is still raw brings back bad memories and is very moving. The sequence of the attack is difficult to sustain and the rest of the film constantly evokes this immense pain, whether with the other victims - whom Mia gets to know and who, each in their own way, try to heal their post-traumatic syndromes - or with her relatives, who obviously no longer see her in the same way.
The technical work behind the film is prodigious, whether it be the sound, which is stifling, or the way Paris is filmed, which has rarely been portrayed in this way in cinema. It is also a prodigious casting, Virginie Efira in the lead, who plays one of her best roles, but also Benoît Magimel, who plays one of the victims. Revoir Paris is a great film, it was one of our favorites of the Cannes Film Festival, where it was presented at the Directors' Fortnight, it is also one of our favorites of the year.
The trailer:
