L'ESQUIVE
GAMES OF LOVE AND CHANCE |
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Director:
Abdellatif Kechiche
Screenplay: Abdellatif Kechiche & Ghalia Lacroix
Cast:
Krimo: Osman Elkharraz
Lydia: Sara Forestier
Frida: Sabrina Ouazani
Nanou: Nanou Benhamou
Fathi: Hafet Ben-Ahmed
Magalie: Aurélie Ganito
Awards:
Best Film, Best Director, Most Promising Actress (Sara
Forestier), César Awards (2005),
Running time: 117'
Year of production: France - 2003
Rating: Not rated (some language)
Gauge: 35mm, DVD (color)
Distributor: New Yorker Films
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“Using
non-professional actors who are astonishingly fresh and
vigorous, [Abdellatif Kechiche] manages to mesh reality
and hope together. “Games of Love and Chance”
describes the world as it is and dreams as they should
be.”
Pierre Murat, Télérama |
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Set in a bleak
suburban housing project, Games of Love and Chance follows
a group of teenagers, poor and immigrant for the most part.
Many are involved in a class production of Marivaux’s
18th-century classic “Les jeux de l’amour et du
hasard.” The rehearsals, both in and out of the classroom,
are often the stage for their daily interactions. Krimo, whose
dad is in prison, leaves his long-time girlfriend to pursue
Lydia, a petulant girl who plays the lead role. Although he
has no theater experience and the performance is days away,
his infatuation leads him to take the part of Arlequin to
play opposite Lydia – making a fool of himself in the
process. Arguments among the group quickly surface as Krimo’s
sudden love interest turns into a source of gossip and tension.
His ex-girlfriend accuses Lydia of luring him away while Krimo’s
friend begs Lydia to tell Krimo if she is interested in him.
Although Games of Love and Chance reveals a lot about France’s
multiethnic youth culture, the film is almost more about the
French language than anything else with the juxtaposition
between the teenagers’ multi-ethnic slang and the polished
rhetoric of the 18th century.
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| PHOTO New
Yorker Films |
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