Reinventing Marvin
2017 · Directed by Anne Fontaine
Original language: French
- drama
The story
Telling the true story of Marvin Bijou, a young boy from a working-class family in a small village, who suffers constant bullying at school and home for being ‘different’ – too sensitive and too feminine. A chance encounter with a drama teacher opens the doors to a world that offers him the chance to escape his situation.
What it’s like
Cold, grey-green northern French light falls on a flat, weathered village, with muted interiors, drab kitchens and wide, windswept fields. Scenes often hold on faces and quiet domestic rooms rather than cutting quickly. The score is sparse, with long stretches of ambient near-silence that make the classroom jeers and family arguments land hard. The mood is wintry, wounded and slowly opening, shifting toward warmer, brighter theatre-world interiors as the story moves forward. Pacing is measured and emotional rather than eventful, and the arc follows a sensitive, isolated boy finding a place to exist as himself. Intensity is significant: there is persistent verbal bullying and homophobic abuse, some physical violence, and a sexual assault that is shown with real weight, though not graphically. It is not gentle. It suits a serious, reflective evening rather than comfort viewing. It is for viewers who want a quiet, character-driven coming-of-age drama about class, queer childhood and the transforming power of art.
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