Title: Une colonie | A colony | Eine Kolonie
About the movie:
To be different than most are, not an easy undertaking in our society and certainly not when you are the age of a teenager. Mylia (Émilie Bierre) lives together with her little sister Camille (Irlande Côté) and her parents in a remote house or small farm. The relationship of her parents is not under a good star and Mylia is always asked to take care of her little sister, which on the one hand restricts her freedom a bit and on the other hand as a teenager you sometimes just want to have your peace and experience other things without parents and without constantly playing babysitter. But even if she is visibly annoyed by Camille, she always tries to be there for her sister, at least when they are at home and nobody else notices. Camille, on the other hand, is still full in her childlike world. She trudges through nature, talks to the animals and waits every evening for her big sister in bed. When Camille discovers a dead chicken on the ground on her return home, surrounded by other chickens, a small world breaks down for Camille. When Camille tries to bring the animal to the nearest place, where her sister helps out in a small shop, her plan is thwarted by a dog trying to snatch the dead chicken, while Camille tears over the dead animal. Mylia only notices about all this when other children excitedly run up a small alley. When she follows them, she sees the problem, but keeps away and seems ashamed of her sister’s behaviour. Only when Jimmy (Jacob Whiteduck-Lavoie), a boy from the surrounding Abenaki reservation, appears and calms the dog, the situation is defused. Back home again, Camille has painted a little thank-you card for Jimmy and now she wants to bring it to him. At the mother’s clear request Camille has to go with her to Jimmy’s and while she hands over the letter Mylia observes the whole thing from a healthy distance.
The next day, Mylia’s first day at high school begins, to which she always has to travel by school bus. Looking into the classroom, where some groups have already formed who are engaged in conversation, she looks at a free chair next to Jimmy. After some hesitation she sits down and finds out in the course of the lesson that Jimmy is different from most of them. In particular, she notices a book in which Jimmy has glued newspaper clippings together to form a colorful collage. A circumstance that other guys in the class quickly declare to be “freak”. But not only Jimmy is talked about behind his back, also Mylia is obviously an interesting target for a group of girls, whose topics are mostly about the right clothes, make-up, parties and of course boys. Since Mylia’s cousin is part of the girls’ group, Mylia also ends up in their circle again and again and experiences different moments with very different impressions. But most of them are rather disliked by her and of course this inevitably leads to laughter in the group. As much as she tries to be part of the group, she always finds herself in a struggle of conscience whether she really should throw her own personality and lifestyle overboard, or whether she prefers to stay the way she is and choose what she likes to do best and especially with whom.
Conclusion:
The basis of the story actually offers plenty of material to fill a two-hour feature film, but unfortunately Une colonie weakens towards the middle of the film and the tension curve drops massively, because it stretches a felt eternity more and more without much happening. Only at the end the whole thing picks up again and finds a good ending. However, if you let the movie pass in review, then you will notice some interesting details. One scene tells us that there are people who always stay within the line or paint over the line when painting, and that you can also recognize a piece of character from this. Later we see Mylia at a school party in a sports hall. On the floor the typical circle of a playing field is marked, in which she is with many others dancing in the crowd. The camera pans towards the ground at her feet, which slowly leave the circle and she moves towards Jimmy, who is also outside the circle. Then there was the scene with the chicken described in the text above, which Camille found among all the other chickens who picked it dead. Later in the movie it is explained that it can happen that chickens choose a weaker animal and literally maltreat it, which is similar to the way we humans behave and see it in the movie. And in the Q&A after the movie we also learned that the form of the circle has a greater meaning in the culture of the Abenaki. The circle can be found in many different places in the movie as well.
Actors:
Émilie Bierre (Mylia)
Jacob Whiteduck-Lavoie (Jimmy)
Irlande Côté (Camille)
Cassandra Gosselin Pelletier (Jacinthe)
Noémie Godin-Vigneau (Nathalie)
Robin Aubert (Henri)
Director:
Geneviève Dulude-De Celles
Information about the film incl. short film excerpt (unfortunately no further seasons during the Berlinale):
https://www.berlinale.de/en/programm/berlinale_programm/datenblatt.html?film_id=201910539
Pictures from the Q&A at Cinemaxx:
