GAMES OF LOVE AND
CHANCE (L’ESQUIVE)
Chale Nafus
Director of
Programming, Austin Film Society
[for] these French kids born
of immigration…I make a claim for their right to an ordinary life like anyone
else’s, beyond the insulting clichés of the victim or the delinquent. You could
almost say the film is a plea for the right to correct representation. – Abdel Kechiche
For a film examining the lives of
young North African, Sub-Saharan African, and Southeast Asian immigrants (or
descendents of immigrants) in Paris, director Abdel Kechiche chose a rather
unusual subtext to thread its way through his contemporary story: Pierre Carlet
de Chamblain de Marivaux’s play, Le Jeu de l’Amour et du Hasard (1730). But he had a very well defined reason to
choose a nearly forgotten play by a very long-dead white man. In Marivaux’s
play Silvia is the rather independent-minded daughter of Orgon, who has
arranged a marriage for his daughter, but who is quite willing to let her
determine if Dorante is indeed a man she wishes to marry –- “on condition that
you pleased each other and that you had full liberty to speak out in the
matter.” To be able to observe her suitor for the first time with ease, Silvia
gets her father’s permission to pretend to be Lisette, her maid, while the maid
will pretend to be her mistress, Silvia. The father thinks it is a clever idea,
but he avoids telling his daughter that he knows Dorante similarly intends to
pretend to be his own valet, Arlequin, and vice versa. Inevitably confusion
reigns and the entire class system comes into play as the unwitting “maid” is
really attracted to the “valet” but cannot accept that attraction since he
would be “beneath” her true class. Likewise, Lisette, the real maid, pretending
to be the “lady,” is very taken by the valet who is pretending to be his
“master” and begins to believe that she could indeed marry “up and out of her
class.” By the end of the 3-act play, the true identity of each character is
revealed, and the traditional social order is returned to “normal,” with each
character being betrothed to the “right person.”
More important to Kechiche than
the disguises, pretenses, class structure, and dramatic irony (the truths known
only to Orgon and his son and, of course, the audience) was the fact that the
pre-Revolutionary French playwright possessed a “very particular concern with a
sensitive rendition of human feelings, on both a complex and universal level;
and on the other hand, the importance he gives to ‘little people.’ With Marivaux,
the valets, maids, peasants and orphans not only play important roles in the
story, they’re also attributed an inner life, an interiority and nuances of
feelings.” It is Marivaux’s insistence on showing a rich range of feelings
within his characters, regardless of their status and class, that attracted
Kechiche, who saw the play as a way to present his housing-project-dwelling
teens dealing with all the complexities of young love. Rather than making his
film a Romeo and Juliet reprise based on
ethnicity, class, or family enmity, Kechiche focused on young 2nd and
3rd generation immigrants who rarely if ever mention their ethnicity
or class. They are full of emotions, desires, and dreams and go about their
daily lives with the same teenage outlooks prevalent all over the world – where
do I fit in, whom should I be with, what shall I do today?
Continuing his discussion of what
intrigued him about Marivaux, Kechiche says of the characters in the play: “They
do not only play a social role. They become men and women with the right to a complex
psychological make-up. They acquire humanity. Their jobs alone are no longer
enough to define them. In my mind, this is the modern, even subversive part of
his approach. His outlook was more daring than what we see in today’s
representation of minorities.”
Born in Tunisia in 1960
Abdellatiff Kechiche immigrated with his family to Nice in 1966. Even though he
has spent nearly all his life in France, acting and directing in both theater
and film, he is still very sympathetic to the immigrant situation in France,
not always the most welcoming of countries, even to those originating in former
French colonies in North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia
(especially Vietnam and Cambodia). It seems that only in the 21st
century is France finally beginning to accept the fact that it is quickly
becoming a multi-cultural society. Kechiche explains what he has noticed and
what prompted him to create his film about love in the projects: “There is
something lazy about the simplistic way minorities are represented [in French
media]. They are not allowed diversity or complexity. For different generations
of immigrants, the only nuance they are accorded is whether or not they are
integrated into French life. It’s very limited. The representation of minorities
in the audiovisual field in France suffers from a real lack of curiosity and
openness to others.”
Even as ground-breaking a film as
LA HAINE (1995) was – with its depiction of anger, violence, gang warfare, and
police brutality in the suburban housing projects – it also unfortunately
established a kind of stereotype for later French films which would choose the
same social setting, much the same way that MENACE II SOCIETY (1993)
characterized and froze the image of “the hood” in American films. Kechiche
observed that in France “there has been such stigmatizing of poor areas in the
suburbs that it’s become almost revolutionary to place any action there, unless
it’s related to gang rapes, drugs, girls in veils or forced marriages. I wanted
to talk about love and theater for a change.”
In his desire to make “a
fictional film without betraying reality,” he made the violence among the youth
primarily verbal – an indicator of their bravado (both male and female) and
their need to always be seen as tough and able to do great harm if disrespected.
But, aside from Fathi’s use of physical force against Frida because of his
great frustration, the only other physical violence in the film comes from the
cops, who are way out of balance with their use of force. Kechiche explains his
decision to include that very disturbing scene: “I’m sure some people will
criticize me for it. For me, immersed in the daily life of the projects, I felt
I didn’t have the right to gloss over something I kept seeing. It’s hard to
imagine the extent to which people in the projects are under constant pressure
from the police. While we were shooting the film, I saw events like that time
and time again! But despite the scene’s great violence, I see it as defying
abuse of power, since it has no real influence on the outcome… In the end, the
play is performed and life goes on.”
It wasn’t as if many other people
agreed with Kechiche’s view of life in the projects. He actually finished a
version of the script in 1993, but would wait ten years before finding a
producer willing to finance such a film. There would be no government money for
GAMES OF LOVE AND CHANCE. The low cost of making such a film was what initially
appealed to nearly-novice producer Jacques Ouaniche and secondarily Kechiche’s
“wish to present a more personal view of the projects than we usually see”
sealed the deal.
Casting GAMES OF LOVE AND CHANCE
started out as a difficult, if illuminating, process precisely because of the
stereotypes inherent in too many movies. Kechiche explains, “During the casting
calls, when I met a lot of young people, I was struck by the way the usual
caricatured representations deformed their own vision [my emphasis]. After yet another improvisation on
the theme of gang rape or arranged marriages, we had to explain to these
teenagers that I didn’t necessarily expect them to copy what they’d seen in
movies or on TV reports. There was something artificial in the themes they
chose. When they learned that the film was about a boy in love, once they got
over their astonishment, everything became more natural. They started talking
about love with their own words. Like all kids their age, it is their main concern:
getting over their fear of approaching a girl or a boy, trying to seduce him or
her, making sure how he or she feels and not being betrayed.” So, even during
casting Kechiche was learning from the viewpoints of his potential cast members.
Those who were chosen were indeed lucky since for most it was their first time
before the camera or even “on the stage.” But even beyond that, they would get
a rare opportunity to represent deeper realities about their lives and
outlooks.
Initially the director intended
to have an even larger cast of characters, but fortunately he narrowed his
focus and range down to the ones we see most of the time:
- Abdelkrim
(Krimo), the shy young boy learning about love and the ways of girls/women
- Lydia,
the independent young girl who loves acting in the play and only slowly
becomes aware of Krimo’s infatuation, even though she has known him all
her life
- Magali,
Krimo’s original girl friend
- Frida,
the nearly always high-strung, angry friend of Lydia
- Rachid,
the sweet boy who plays Arlequin in the play
- Fathi,
Krimo’s best friend, who’s “got his back”
When asked how he chose Osman Elkharraz
(Krimo) and Sara Forestier (Lidia), as well as others, Kechiche provides an
intriguing answer to his methods: “It was a question of mutual seduction. Some
of them have charisma and confidence that means no questions are asked.
Sometimes it was painful having to choose. What tipped the balance were often
practical considerations, like whether they could stay in town over summer to
rehearse, or whether the Department of Social Services would deliver an
authorization [for minors to be working].” What is even more intriguing is that
the director didn’t base his choices on “type” or what he thought the
youngster’s “real personality” was. In fact, he reveals that “the ones whose
personalities were the furthest from the
written roles were the ones who ended up playing them.” He elaborates, “For
example, Osman is nothing like Krimo, who is shy and awkward, but he had a very
subtle instinctive understanding of the character and his uncertainties [even
though the actor was only 14 at the time of filming].” Regarding the young girl
playing Lydia, he says, ”Sara is someone very generous. She is always putting
out, even if she often has questions. Off the set, they [Osman and Sara] had
their highs and lows like all teenagers, sometimes friends, sometimes not. Yet
when they had to work, they were there in unison.” Kechiche says something very
surprising and pleasing about Sabrina Ouazani, who plays Frida: “She is
anything but a loudmouth in real life!” Sabrina’s subsequent success in getting
roles for at least nine other movies (including next week’s SECRET OF THE
GRAIN) must support that description, but she is such a perfectly
out-of-control “motor mouth” in this film that I have to confess I was partly
relieved when Fathi grabs her by the throat to squeeze off the air supply to
her incessant tirades (even justifiable ones).
As far as preparing his cast for
their roles, Kechiche says, “We did not do intense sessions of complex
character analysis with each actor. It’s a technique that doesn’t suit me. In
the end, my approach was the same as when I worked with professional actors: we
proceeded by trial and error, appropriated the script, talked, worked on
intonation and tried to find a group dynamic. Sometimes the boys played the girls
and vice-versa. Everyone changed characters. I wanted to encourage a sense of
pleasure in the actors’ work. The final distribution of parts only came after
long group rehearsals.”
Working with a large cast of
young people appears to have really pleased the director: “It’s true their
energy levels are insane, much higher than mine. They gave me so much. They
never got tired, as if they were driven by the constant wonder of being there
and being someone else through the part. It’s something an actor loses over the
years. Getting back that joy, that commitment, was rejuvenating. Given the
extreme shooting conditions, I was very lucky. I don’t like talking of born
actors but a lot of them fascinated me. I know some of them want to continue
working in the field.” In fact, since being in GAMES OF LOVE AND CHANCE, Sara
Forestier has been in 14 more films, as well as a few TV dramas.
Rachid, who plays Harlequin, is described
by Kechiche as “writing screenplays,” while Hafet, who plays Fathi, “wants to
try theater and has become crazy about sound.” All this amazes the director
since, except for Sara Forestier, “the others had never been on a film set or
seen a play. They all approached it on an emotional level. They amazed
themselves. They ended up sensing what was wrong with their acting, by judging
themselves and asking for another take… and they were often right.” It must
have been a very happy, exciting production.
Even the chosen location, the
Franc-Moisin housing projects in Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris (6
miles from the center of the capital) with a very high crime rate, proved to be
ultimately fortuitous and trouble-free. But at first, “people were very
suspicious. … they had already hosted crews for a range of investigative
reports, and they felt betrayed by the results. Many people came to see us to
say how insulted they were by the image of themselves thrown back at them and I
understand how they felt. But as soon as we told them what the film was about and
they understood the issues at stake, a relationship based on friendship and
trust developed. The film became part of their daily lives and many of them
participated in it directly. We never felt the slightest fear of being
attacked, despite all of the scare mongering and assumptions. In any case, I
found their suspicions really healthy. They were concerned at being wrongly
represented. The right to a correct representation is very important.”
Even though the film sometimes
feels improvisational, Kechiche had a very specific script, one which he was
determined to follow once filming began. Suggestions and improvisations had
already been processed in rehearsals and character explorations. He states
firmly that he was not interested in making an “ethnographic film” full of
“blocks of raw reality.” Instead, what he chose to do was “along with my actors
and crew” to “reconstruct a world that is ours. It is fictitious but crossed by
flashes of emotion that bring it to life. These moments of truth where you
transcend yourself are rare and beautiful. That’s where some of them really
discovered that they could be actors and fell in love with the job.”
And French audiences and critics
also fell in love with the film GAMES OF LOVE AND CHANCE. Four Cesars, the
French equivalent of the Oscars, were bestowed on Kechiche and his film: best
film, best director, best original screenplay, and most promising young actress
(Sara Forestier), as well as nominations for Osman Elkharraz and Sabrina
Ouazani.