This movie might just make you want to go to the beach! Azuro is released on the big screen this Wednesday, a dramatic comedy, full of sunshine and color, with a nice cast, including Valérie Donzelli.
WHAT IS IT ABOUT ?
One summer. Torpor. Crushing heat. A disturbed climate. A village wedged between the sea and the mountains. No network. No laptop. Friends who know each other too well. Nothing to do. Or so little. Vacations. And then comes a boat. And from this boat, descends a man. A mysterious man...
A SUN-KISSED FILM
Behind this solar and warm pitch hides an adaptation of a famous author... Marguerite Duras ! Azuro is indeed an adaptation of "Little Horses of Tarquinia", written by the novelist in the early 1950s. As the director of the film, Matthieu Rozé , points out, it is " a universal novel which speaks of importance of the group, of boredom, of desire in the couple, of a woman who hesitates between an impossible love and her son... " And to add: " A kind of On the road to Madison Duras version! And then for me, Duras has a pop side, he’s an icon. ”
A sort of Duras version of On the Road to Madison!
If it is a universal story, the screenwriter and director explains that he wanted to bring this book to the screen for the very personal resonance he found in it: " This group of friends, this summer atmosphere, Idleness, boredom, torpor, desire, the Campari made me think terribly of my friends with whom I leave every summer on the shores of the Mediterranean."
The filmmaker says he wanted to "bring out the humor of the book, the gap between reality and fiction..." "The novel is very dialogical", he continues, "but a lot of things are played out between the words. I immediately wanted to adapt it without distorting it. I thought it would make a great actor's film ."
"A beautiful actor's film"
For his first feature film, Matthieu Rozé has surrounded himself with a nice group of actors: Valérie Donzelli , Thomas Scimeca , Yannick Choirat , Maya Sansa , Nuno Lopes and Florence Loiret-Caille for the main roles.
Around this group, Azuro takes on the appearance of behind closed doors, but also echoes the genre of... western! Matthieu Rozé presents himself as a " fan of westerns ". "Azuro is certainly not a western, but there may be echoes in it: the heat, the red bodies, the alcohol...", he specifies.
" I'm also thinking of La Cienaga by https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=vflika.morbius-fr Lucrecia Martel, a film that left its mark on me, with this sticky mixture of stifling heat, alcohol, fatigue. As for the importance of music, I thought of Il Once upon a time in the West… ” he adds among his credentials. " I am aware that these references are overwhelming and I quote them with great care. They are not so much references or models as fleeting images, fleeting impressions that may have discreetly permeated my film. I also think to An Easy Girl by Rebecca Zlotowski, whom I adored, and with whom I share the same cinematographer, Georges Lechaptois . It was when I saw his film that I proposed to Nuno Lopesto play in mine. "
The film's music also gives a special atmosphere: it was composed by Kid Francescoli, a French electro musician. If his music has already illustrated a few series, including Emily in Paris for Netflix, this is his first soundtrack.
