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VENICE 2021 Orizzonti

Thomas Kruithof • Director of Promises

“This is a battlefield where each character is a soldier with a territory to defend, and where only the viewer has the full picture”

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- VENICE 2021: Unlike some of his characters, the French director reflects on the more complex aspects of things

Thomas Kruithof  • Director of Promises
(© La Biennale di Venezia - Foto ASAC)

Political intrigue on a lofty level is turned into an existential crisis in France’s Promises [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Thomas Kruithof
film profile
]
, playing in the Orizzonti section of the 78th Venice International Film Festival. Unlike some of his characters, during our chat, director Thomas Kruithof reflects on the more complex aspects of things.

Cineuropa: What are the “promises” of the title?
Thomas Kruithof:
They are not specific. To me, the promise is the basis of politics and what the protagonists exchange throughout the film. I would say there are 20-25 different ones, including those that Isabelle Huppert’s mayor makes to herself in her personal ethics and her line of conduct. She’s very clever but sticks to action; she never reflects on herself.

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Isabelle Huppert carries the film as only Isabelle Huppert can. Was she on your mind early on?
First, we had this playground and this duo of master/mayor and disciple/chief of staff. But already during the writing process, we said, “She’s like Isabelle Huppert,” and a little later on, “He’s like Reda Kateb.” I try not to think like that and just focus on the story, but we quickly realised that it was these two who should do it. I saw Isabelle for the first time in the mid-1980s, when she did a few comedies as a colourful, sexy character, not necessarily our vision of her in her career – this screwball energy. She has strength, authority and depth, plus very good comedy timing. Reda I first saw in A Prophet [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jacques Audiard
interview: Jacques Audiard and Tahar R…
film profile
]
and thought, “This is a very talented non-professional,” as I didn’t know about his stage background at all.

As a political drama, there’s a vibe reminiscent of Borgen, and also the political satire of Armando Iannucci from In the Loop [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
and Veep.
Absolutely. Borgen is a prime example of this scenario with a mix between the political battles and the personal lives of the characters. And with Iannucci, I like the sense of brutality that’s part of the political game. This is a battlefield where each character is a soldier with a territory to defend, and where only the viewer has the full picture.

You specifically bring up the housing situation in a low-income area as the main issue of concern in the story. Could we see the film as wanting to raise an actual debate?
Towards politicians? No. I will show it to the mayors I worked with in doing my research, as I’m curious about their reaction. But I don’t believe in films with political messages. It’s directed towards the general public, offering an image of politics that goes to the dark side, but also the beautiful side, of commitment and trying to do something collectively. The housing situation, while very topical, was for me the most visual situation. Where you live, how you live, water, electricity, hygiene, security – it’s all very concrete. Of course, I wanted to capture some of the anger of the people living under these conditions, and also how they defend themselves and their territory. Like this discussion that I found in the comments to an article in Le Monde, about the sales of flat-screen television sets in homes in the suburbs and that it’s a bad use of money. The response is that PlayStations and sports channels keep kids off the streets and from getting into bad company.

You’ve made two features thus far. Is there a common theme in them, do you think? And what will the next one be about?
I won’t tell you about the next one quite yet. But I think a common ground is the relationship between an individual and a complex system. In my first film, The Eavesdropper [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, it was more Kafkaesque, with François Cluzet as this new recruit in a strange spy organisation. In Promises, we deal with the layers of French politics and how hard it is to get things done. The characters are clever and well spoken, but nobody manages to convince anybody. If they win in the end, it’s not with the mind; only the guts.

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