Karnaval

Larbi (Amar Ben Abdallah) is a young mechanic working for the family business in Dunkirk. Following a heated argument with his father, he decides to move to the opposite end of the country and start anew. However, the night before his departure, he bumps into Christian (Clovis Cornillac) and Béa (Sylvie Testud) and falls in love at first sight with the latter. Within the festivity of the Dunkirk carnival, Larbi decides to stay in an attempt to woo Béa and he encounters a world that will turn his upside down.

Thomas Vincent’s debut feature is a visual feast, which fully takes advantage of the carnival backdrop to evoke weird and wonderful colours, characters and costumes of which Fellini would be proud. Without ostentatious effects or a lavish budget, Vincent’s camera hovers within the madding crowd and absorbs the infectious atmosphere of these liberated folk disguised in all manners. Yet we never forget that we are in a grey northern French town, as the director’s skill shines in his ability to excavate the extraordinary from the ordinary.
Beyond the impressive visual and aural spectacle on screen, Karnaval is a character driven story, which draws out the depth of its three multi-faceted protagonists with patience and concern. Thus, the seemingly straight-forward love story is more complicated than initially evinced, as the characters’ strengths and weaknesses are thoroughly laid bare. The leads all excel, in particular Sylvie Testud, who received the Prix Michel Simon and a César nomination for this early role which would signal an acclaimed career ahead (La Captive, La Vie en rose).