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Blue Fear by Marie Jacotey and Lola Halifa-Legrand

Blue Fear by Marie Jacotey and Lola Halifa-Legrand

A couple on the roads of Provence. Nils is driving Flora to his parents for the first time when they get ambushed. Whilst she’s made prisoner, he flees. During a night in the pinewood, she has to face her doubts - Film Synopsis

This is the premise behind the Cannes Festival 2020 premiered Blue Fear by Marie Jacotey and Lola Halifa-Legrand (production: MIYU Productions). Screenwriter  Marie Jacotey and graphic artist Lola Halifa-Legrand give a twisted turnout of a couple's story -and a woman's fear of acceptance.

Marie Jacotey wanted to give a less-than-conventional narrative turn to the problem of overcoming one's fears. The feminist aspect of the film was there all along, but wasn't prescribed as a given and a detailed roadmap from the beginning; the two directresses coordinated in their own, creative way, step-by-step.

The cinematic aspect of Marie Jacotey's designs is evident in the film, which borrows a lot from the exploitation film tradition -yet the film (aided also a lot by its soundtrack by The Coward) rises above its influences to tell a story of a quiet subversion -and thunderous retribution.

Film Review (Vassilis Kroustallis):
'Blue Fear' (Filles bleues, peur blanche) has all the characteristics of a 'running wild' film, but is also intricate enough to craft a well-connected narrative under its sleeve (or knife). Using a visual wilderness that elevates both color saturation and slick Amazonian outfits, it manages to convey an alternative feminist culture that has no qualms about bourgeois fears (with their men only projected as a past pastime). The main character both dives into and elevates this world, in a constantly eclectic musical accompaniment -and with lines that range from Virginia Woolf (a sad counterexample to that culture) to everyday talk. Bloody acts would make Tarantino happy, yet the whole film is still an ode to self-awareness. A film that rests on overturning expectations, and it does this admirable well. 

Watch 'Blue Fear' on YouTube

Here's the making of Blue Fear, via My French Film Festival

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