 Freddy
lives with his mother who owns a café, "Au Petit
Casino", in Bailluel. Under treatment in a hospital
specialized in epilepsy, Freddy spends most of his days
"vegetating" with his friends. They are no more
than twenty years old, are uninformed, untutored, and
unemployed. Thus, they while the hours away riding on
their motorcycles. Freddy has a girl friend, Marie, who
works as a cashier at a supermarket. They often make love
at Freddy's house, without his mother's knowing, or they
simply spend time together, without saying a word, their
gaze lost in a void, as if in prayer. This is Freddy's
routine. Even though he is not particularly bright, he is
a good boy. A simple country youth, generally pious, even
under insult, with a peculiar strength in his gaze, and
an uncommon posture both in gesture and in word. Winner
of the Camera D'Or at the Cannes 1997 Festival and of the
Jean Vigo Prize/97, this film, according to the director,
materialized as from a text from French philologist
Ernest Renan: "I read the text and what most
attracted me was the way in which he retells the story of
Jesus, leaving out the supernatural, the folklore, to
portray Jesus as human, wise, with much to tell us. This
is what I wanted in order to make a film that might once
again draw the interest of young people to Jesus,
without, however, moralizing, or religious
discourse". |
