Showing @ Cineworld, Edinburgh Sat 21 & Sat 28 Jun
François Dupeyron / France / 2013 / 124 mins
François Dupeyron’s tale of a reluctant faith healer is, fittingly, just as enigmatic and frustrating as the source of the character’s mystical powers. Very little is explained or resolved, and it consequently feels more like philosophical exploration than narrative.
Fredi (Grégory Gadebois) is a regular guy. He lives in a caravan, drinks beer and rides a motorbike. His mother has died a few weeks before the film begins and it soon transpires that she was a healer. Fredi’s father (Jean-Pierre Darroussin) tells one prospective client, entirely without fanfare, that Fredi is the heir to her “gift”. The trouble is that he’s not sure whether he even wants it, or what to do with it. Fredi soon learns that ignoring his inheritance is the one option he does not have.
Gadebois turns in a remarkably nuanced performance as a reliable man who wants to do the right thing but whose self-confidence is outstripped by his abilities. Each day Fredi is confronted with pain and desperation, and yet he has no idea when his powers will work. Things come to a head when he meets the damaged Nina (Céline Sallette) who may just be the only person that can heal the healer. Salvation, it seems, also works in mysterious ways.
Showing as part of Edinburgh International Film Festival 2014