Ahead of its Locarno Festival world premiere, sales agent Outplay Films (“León”) has dropped an international trailer and poster for coming-of-age drama “Rivière,” an earnest take on adolescence and the way youth negotiates trauma.
“Riviére,” the debut feature of Hugues Hariche, will bow in the Festival’s Cineasti del Presente strand which highlights first and second feature-film debuts from emerging directors, sometimes uncovering exceptional talent. It follows Manon (Flavie Delangle), 17, as she abruptly returns to her hometown of Belfort, France in an attempt to reconcile with her estranged father. Near-orphaned by circumstance, she blends effortlessly into the scenery, taking up with local teens at the neighborhood ice rink. They maneuver their traumas with nuance while hockey and figure-skating act as vehicles that portray the script’s tensions, never the film’s primary focus.
Manon is determined to make it as a professional ice hockey player.
“I love sports, but I wasn’t interested in just making a sports movie. I’m more interested in relationships, especially during the teenage years,” Hariche toldPvNew.“ I use sport because it’s a good base to build a story. It’s very visual. So I don’t have to have these kids in a room, or something like that. I put them outside and in a rink and that gave me many tools to play with, building the story around that.”
Produced bySwitzerland’s Beauvoir Films, producer of Berlinale Encounters double winner “The Girl and the Spider” and co-producer of Cannes Special Screening “Marguerite’s Theorem,” “”Rivière” is co-produced by Paris-based Les Films D’Argile (“Olho Animal”) with Swiss distribution rights handled by Outside The Box. Outplay Films handles world sales.
“We are proudly representing ‘Rivière’ worldwide and domestically, a contemporary film embodying today’s youth with openness and diversity.” said Diego Carazo-Migerel Fougères, Outplay Films’ head of international sales & acquisitions. “Under Hugues’ brilliant direction a new generation of actors shines, led by Flavie Delangle. Their high-quality performances create a compelling portrayal of youth and women in sports.”
Written by Hariche alongside Joanne Giger (“Les Indociles”), the film addresses the weighty burdens of youth and hints at how hard it is to form steady bonds when you’ve spent a lifetime attempting to detach. Hariche provides the teenage protagonists the depth they deserve as they gather without the distraction of cell phone screens, laptops. They’re tuned in. Modernity surfaces with the ease with which they relate. Love in the film is young, pure and honest, as riddled with curiosity and anxiety as ever.
“There’s something a bit vintage about the film, the way it addresses the kids, the way I present it. In some ways, it carries nostalgia for the ‘90s, when I was teenager, the way I grew up. At the same time, I tried to make it contemporary, like the way the kids act about their sexuality, for example, which is much more open,” Hariche stated.
He added: “Today people are freer to express their sexuality, their gender. That’s something I wanted to show, but not be militant about. I wanted to show something true to modern day, make it as fluid as possible.”
The trailer for “Rivière” opensby showcasing the vast expanse of a snowy terrain, from an RV on the highway to train tracks racing alongside the mountain range, where Manon is seen walking.
The teaser continues as she enters the rink, meeting Karine (Sarah Bramms) and, subsequently, the rest of the crew. It then boldly cuts together wistfully-dated renderings of the scenery with shots that depict Manon’s life on and off the ice, falling in love while working towards her goals of becoming a professional hockey player and dealing with an uncertain home life.
The use of liminal space gives the impression that the characters are the only ones in town as they take over each one of its empty corners, breathing life into its fog-laden nights, neon-lit convenience stores, sparsely populated living quarters and well-worn ice rink.
The city itself acts as a beloved third-wheel and dialogue is intentional, allowing the audience to sit within theoscillating emotions the characters emote while sports play out on the periphery as Manon’s angst unfolds in sequences that show her rage but also her vulnerability and drive. The sound of blades as they slide rapidly over freshly manicured ice adds urgency to the images.
An ensemble cast is composed largely of non-professional actors, with the exception of Delangle, Bramms and Camille Rutherford (“Felicità”), who plays Manon’s stepmother. Actors embodying their roles fully, from silent and contemplative, to bursting with rage and back, the weight of sitting between childhood and being grown is felt in each scene.
Speaking to his continued interest in making films that encapsulate theambiguity of adolescence, Hariche admitted, “What I love about that age is that everything’s over the top. Whatever you do, it’s bigger. When you fight with your girlfriend or boyfriend, it becomes stronger. I love that exacerbation of feelings.”
