Apocryphal county at Visions du Reel

This year Visions du Reel selectors have outdone themselves by creating a program that seems to be unrivaled in past documentary film seasons. The variety of genres, as well as the variety of characters and plots are out of this world. The flow of films turns into a movie narrative of such an impressive scale that it takes your breath away.

In the morning you might be watching a reportage drama about a girl who strives to rise to the top of the culinary arts and becomes a famous chef. And in the evening you might be immersed in the film adaptation of Faulkner.

Yoknapatawpha is the name of American writer William Faulkner’s apocryphal county. “Apocryphal”, meaning “of doubtful authenticity”. Authentic or not, this is where Faulkner set all of his stories. He even drew its map. That is what guides the director Geoffrey Lachassagne in this brilliant and dizzying cinematographic adaptation.

It seems that this film - "Apocryphal county" - - is one of the most daring director’s attempts at this festival. Filming Faulkner is like turning fish in a river into nouns and seaweed into verbs. The director won applause before the start of the screening - he prepared the cutest sketches about Faulkner, convincing the audience that the writer was consistently engaged in total lies since childhood. As a young man, he failed to become a pilot because he could not manage to fly a plane. So he bought a military uniform of a pilot and returned home, limping: as if he were a combat veteran. And many other interesting facts were presented by the director. The film falls a little short of its intent and promise. But it stimulated the mind and, of course, gives the audience a variety of visual impressions.

Film photos/Poster: Bastien Bento, Marine Pierre - VDR