Gourou, review of Yann Gozlan’s film
Seen in advance at the Forum des images, Gourou impresses with its direction, music and performance, but struggles to fully deliver on its thriller ambitions.
I discovered Gourou by Yann Gozlan at a preview screening at the Forum des images, in the presence of Pierre Niney and the director, followed by a discussion after the screening. This context matters, because it highlights the contrast between the public persona, affable and humorous, and the film itself, which stages the construction of power through speech.
On paper, Gourou had everything it needed to intrigue: a highly contemporary subject, a major French actor, and a director known for building tension. The screenplay, written by Yann Gozlan and Jean-Baptiste Delafon, relies heavily on words, formulas and promises, that performative language which fuels the coaching industry and can, at times, slide into forms of influence and control.
A hypnotic mise en scène
The film is less about coaching as a practice than about its drift into an industry of influence. Scrolling through LinkedIn feeds, one could easily believe that coaching is everywhere, for everything, offering miracle methods and narratives of personal transformation. Gourou taps into this climate and follows the trajectory of Mathieu Vasseur, a coach with an oversized ego, initially sincere, who gradually shifts toward something else (I prefer not to say more to avoid spoilers).
Formally, the film is strong, and even very controlled. The music works, the cinematography is precise, and the direction shows real ambition. It makes tangible the rise of a persuasive voice, the construction of collective adhesion, and the vertigo that comes with it. Pierre Niney excels precisely because he maintains a delicate balance between charisma and unease.
At the Forum des images, after the screening
A line that undermines the film’s intent
This is also why one line, halfway through the film, stopped me cold. The main character says: The Americans want clean, neat, kosher.
In this context, the use of the word “kosher” introduces an unnecessary and troubling connotation. I am not certain what the screenwriters intended at that moment, but the effect is clear: a discomfort that distracts rather than serves the film’s argument.
A scattered thriller, and an underwritten female character
As a thriller, however, Gourou leaves me more divided. The film opens several narrative paths, multiplies directions, but never fully follows any of them through. By trying to cover too much ground, it loses sharpness and impact, even though the direction itself succeeds in sustaining atmosphere and tension.
Another notable limitation is the place given to the character played by Marion Barbeau, revealed in En corps by Cédric Klapisch. Her role is largely confined to that of a partner, without a trajectory of her own. One could mention the Bechdel test, but the issue goes beyond the indicator. This reduction weakens the film, depriving it of a counterpoint, a gaze, a possible form of resistance, and therefore of greater depth.
Still, Gourou contains powerful moments, and even some genuinely funny situations. To me, it is a film that succeeds formally, in terms of music, image and direction, but proves more fragile narratively, as if the act of hypnotising outweighed the progression of the thriller itself.
In theaters on January 28th.
Trailer
