“November”, the feature film by Cédric Jimenez on the Paris attacks in 2015, was presented at the 75th Cannes Film Festival. Check out our review of the film.
Cedric Jimenez returns to Cannes
During the 74th edition of the Cannes Film Festival, Cédric Jimenez presented North ferry out of competition. Despite a controversy born of a remark by an Irish journalist at a press conference, the director was still present on the Croisette with November (still out of competition). A new feature film on an even more delicate subject: the attacks of November 13, 2015 in Paris marked by three explosions near the Stade de France and several shootings in the streets of the 10th and 11th arrondissements and at the Bataclan. But the film focuses on the few days that followed when counter-terrorism teams tracked down the masterminds to avoid another attack.
November has therefore been presented on the evening of May 22 at the Grand Théâtre Lumière. The film crew was present for a remarkable climb of the steps with, among others, Cédric Jimenez, Jean Dujardin, Sandrine Kiberlain, Anaïs Demoustier, Sofian Khammes, Stéphane Bak, Lyna Khoudri and Sami Outalbali.
What is the movie worth November ?
Cédric Jimenez could have approached this hot topic in several ways. Alice Winocour, for example, addressed the point of view of survivors with her film See Paris again (at the Directors’ Fortnight). Cédric Jimenez made him November an intense detective film around the investigation. Avoiding unnecessary risk-taking, the director is not going to reproduce the terrible events that we know, but he makes us live the case alongside the investigators, and only in their investigation. Faced with the emergency, the workforce must mobilize at all levels. We thus pass from one protagonist to another in an ambient chaos altogether logical. And even if the whole cast is more than convincing, the director does not seek to make one shine more than another, presenting the team before the individual (with the possible exception of Anaïs Demoustier and Jean Dujardin).
In his realization, Jimenez also allows himself a certain form of “show” (a tense spinning, a shattering finale), while being particularly realistic in its reproduction of the stages. We then feel a constant intensity in this race for the clock. Privileging efficiency over affect (except rare moments), November is thus a reflection of the work put in place during these five days.
November hits theaters on October 5.
