Camping du lac by Éléonore Saintagnan
FRENCH FEATURE FILM COMPETITION
SYNOPSIS Éléonore drives westward. She breaks down in the middle of Brittany. Forced to stay for a while as the new carburetor for her car never seems to arrive, she settles into one of the mobile homes at Camping du Lac. A lake where a monster is said to live. She starts observing the inhabitants, all singular, and soon the tourists, who arrive in droves. Mostly, she waits to glimpse the beast. What might it look like? And after all, is that really what Éléonore is waiting for?
With Éléonore Saintagnan, Anna Turluc’h, Jean-Benoit Ugeux, Étienne Siberil, Wayne Standley, Rosemary Standley
REVIEW
Éléonore breaks down in the middle of nowhere in Brittany. As the parts need to be ordered, she finds herself staying at a campsite facing a vast lake (the landscape reminiscent of Canada) in which there is said to be a giant fish.
Soon, in this extraordinary setting, Éléonore meets the locals, her neighbors (true inhabitants of the place), and then discovers the legend of St. Corentin at the church, the man who multiplied fish to feed the needy. She imagines and films historical reenactments of this legend in the heart of nature, which is the main character of the film.
A retired couple, a single transgender mother, an American eager to reunite with his daughter, the camp director. Éléonore soon finds herself enjoying the company of these quirky characters, who live in a calm and meditative atmosphere.
One day, someone claims to have seen the legendary giant fish. Immediately, tourists flock to the site, wearing the slogan “Believe” all the way to the Breton festival Fes-noz, and little by little the lake begins to dry up…
At a slow pace, Éléonore Saintagnan (who keeps her name and plays the heroine) creates an ecological fable between fiction and documentary.
The director was initially trained in visual arts. You will discover one of her manipulated works in the film.
“Camping by the Lake” is also an adaptation of the short story “The Fish” by Russel Banks, an anti-system tale in which Éléonore Saintagnan succeeds in taking us.
“Camping du lac” will be released in theaters on Wednesday, June 26.
TRAILER
