Variety Critics’ Choice: Europe Now! 2014 / Qui Vive / France 2014
Conceived with an eye toward color-blindness, French director Marianne Tardieu’s multiethnic debut provides a fresh, empathetic glimpse into the personal insecurities of a small-town security guard (Reda Kateb) struggling to improve his station. A bad decision threatens everything, including romance with a neighborhood girl (Adèle Exarchopoulos).
Conceived with an eye toward color-blindness, French director Marianne Tardieu’s multiethnic debut provides a fresh, empathetic glimpse into the personal insecurities of a small-town security guard struggling to improve his station. A part like this is a big step up for character actor Reda Kateb, who played the prisoner seen hanging by his wrists in the opening scene of Zero Dark Thirty (2012). Here, he has the tricky task of making himself both relatable and somewhat threatening, enough so that his new girlfriend (Adèle Exarchopoulos) might have second thoughts about whether she’s comfortable around his temper. Though based in Brittany, Insecure could take place in nearly any suburb, so universal are the sentiments it depicts — namely, the challenges facing someone determined to earn his way honestly when nearly all his peers are chasing shortcuts, and the consequences of a lapse in judgment that threatens to undermine all his progress.
Peter Debruge
83 min / Color, DCP
Director Marianne Tardieu
/ Screenplay Nadine Lamari, Marianne Tardieu
/ Dir. of Photography Jordane Chouzenoux
/ Music Sayem
/ Editor Thomas Marchand
/ Producer Céline Maugis
/ Production La Vie Est Belle
/ Coproduction Oriflamme Films
/ Cast Reda Kateb, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Moussa Mansaly
/ Contact Urban Distribution International
Marianne Tardieu is a director, screenwriter, and cinematographer who first studied philosophy before going on to study at the Louis Lumière film school in Paris. She has worked as assistant DOP and cinematographer for numerous feature films, including Rue des Cités (2011) and 200%(2010), and has also worked on several documentaries and art films. She has co-written three short films, of which Tremblay en France (2010) won the Grand Prix at the Clermont-Ferrand festival. In 2007, she co-directed the medium-length portrait of the punk band Les Gueules Noires, which shows the band’s members while preparing for their comeback many years after having broken up. The socially-minded Insecure is her feature-length directorial debut.
Urban Distribution International
14, rue du 18 Août, 93100, Montreuil
France
Phone: +33 148 704 656
Fax: +33 149 720 421
E-mail: [email protected]
Yann Raymond
Film Institution Rep.
Marianne Tardieu
Film Director
Isabelle Giordano
Film Institution Rep.
Joel Chapron
Film Institution Rep.
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