DP PAGE 1 G - 10:15 Productions

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A film by Marina Dia
THE DRAGON'S demise
A film by Marina Diaby
10:15! PRODUCTIONS
182 RUE LA fayette
75 010 PARIS
+33 (0)1 80 27 02 58
[email protected]
with
Emilie CAen
LAMINE DIABY
Alban Guyon
noemie rosset
length 26 min
SYNOPSIS
Marianne, Mike and Angèle have gathered once more around their mother.
In ten days, following the end of the treatment protocol, Claudine will be
dead. Ten days? Marianne never grasped the fact that they would have to
wait so long, yet she usually understands very well.
Luckily, Angèle has worked hard to wrap everything up as tightly as possible and Mike is trying especially hard not to rub anyone the wrong way.
Everything will be as fine as can be. Even the dog has never been so affectionate...
INTENTIONS
When I turned 16, I told my 7 and 9 year-old siblings with
all the solemnity of a country leader during wartime, that
there was no use counting on me to take care of our
mother once she could no longer take care of herself.
This is a disappearance of another kind which forms the
basis of “The Dragonʼ’s demise”.
Years later, the determination with which I decided to lay
down this hypothetical burden came back to me, a determination which is suprising to say the least. What also returned was this nebulous yet powerful intuition that one
day it would be my turn to bring her attention, comfort
and love, as she would no longer be anything but a
fragile being unable to fend for herself: that one day, I
would have to become my motherʼ’s mother. And the teenager that I was claimed she was incapable of doing this.
My initial concern, when writing, and then on set with the
actors, was to find a point of equilibrium where the tone
could serve such weighty subject matter. From the discrepancy that emerges between each character when light is
shed on their contradictions, lightness could shine through
and usher in the emotions that neither they nor us can
escape. Furthermore, it was my conviction that this tone,
which is slightly off kilter, allowed for a more complex
whi
presentation of the characters and therefore one more
closely connected to what they were experiencing on that
unusual day.
A woman had three children, each with a different
mother. Marianne, Angèle and Michael, who have come
together to put an end to the artificial coma that has been
keeping Claudine alive for the last two years.
To achieve this, it was vital for me that the narration
should give enough space to what was going on
off-screen, to this noisy yet invisible mother as well as to
the subtext of past conflict.
How to deal with the disappearance of a mother when
we feel that she failed to do her duty properly? How,
when gathered round what is soon to become her dead
body, can we map out our quest for memories, real or
imaginary, like as many fragments of love, also real or
imaginary?
As the film progresses, a portrait of Marianne comes
into focus. She is the oldest child, fumbling, trying to
find her place among this pre-mourning microcosm.
Faced with how hard she finds it just to be present
during these last few days of Claudineʼ’s existence, Marianne suffers from her inability to participate in the pantomime of tragic goodbyes to a mother whose imminent
demise has not rendered more gentle. She will have to
face up to this incapacity. And as the day fades, masks
fall, tongues loosen and there is nowhere left to hide.
The nursing home is of crucial importance. It is the only
setting for this drama unfolding at close quarters.
It is not a hospital environment but rather a place where
people are accompanied during their final moment, a
bright and heartfelt environment in which our characters are living through this day, out of time and cut off
from the rest of the world – a place permeated with the
serenity of a final resting place where only the living
flail about.
There is also Cardinal, Claudineʼ’s only surviving dog. He
is a metaphor but also a living being, like Marianneʼ’s
uneasy discomfort, vague and impossible to pin down,
like a lovesick soul who feels no love. Marianne is embarassed by what she feels like she is bothered by this
dog who follows her around as if he was her shadow.
You canʼ’t fight the dead, or else you fight in vain;; all you
can do is try and make peace with the living.
Marina Diaby
MARINA DIABY
After an adolescence spent in rural Corrèze - a land of chestnut trees and wild blueberries – Marina moved to Paris
at 18. She had longed for the capital since she was eight, dreamt of sashaying down the Champs Elysées in long,
figure-hugging furs: everything would surely come together in the city of lights!
The next step was figuring out how that would happen...
A smattering of literature courses, a lot of baby-sitting, months spent as a helper in a retirement home, years manning the switchboard for a taxi firm...until she met Philippe Carcassonne. One evening, as he was ordering a cab,
she recognised the producerʼ’s name of the film by Anne Fontaine she had seen a few days beforehand and a professional alliance was born, one as unusual as it was unlikely, yet one which has stood the test of time. After
meeting Brigitte Sy, who became a close friend, Marina decided to become a directorʼ’s assistant and this is where
she discovered film sets, film shooting and the whole movie-making process.
She wrote her first short film, “Chacun sa nuit” (Beyond the night, produced by Mathieu Bompoint for Mezzanine
Films in 2011), and embraced movie directing: this is obviously why Marina had come to Paris, and though she still
hasnʼ’t sashayed down the Champs Elysées in a fur coat, she has become a film director, and that my friends, is definitely for the best.
EMILIE CAEN
LAMINE DIABY
NOEMIE ROSSET
ALBAN GUYON
An eclectic actress whose range covers the farcical style
of Arthus de Penguern in “La clinique de l'amour”,
comedy in “Qu'est ce qu'on a fait au bon Dieu?”, or the
universe of JP. Amar (”Pilules bleues”), Emilie Caen has
also managed to enter into the world of Marina Diaby
and her Dragon. In addition to cinema, Emilie has also
pursued theatrical adventures such as “Les bulles”, by
Claire Castillon, a play directed by Marion Vernoux, or
Clai
“Mathilde première reine d'Angleterre” written and directed by Gabor Rassov
Since the origin of time, Lamine Diaby, whose talent as
an impersonator was revealed to him at a very young
age, has never ceased to hone his talent for ʻ‘Entertainmentʼ’ as it is so rarely practiced in France, and as a
result, feels a strong kinship with the great comedians
of North America such as Eddie Murphy, Dave Chapelle,
Richard Pryor and Louis C.K.
He has taken part in several short films and TV movies.
Noémie Rosset was born at the foot of the Mont Blanc in
1985. After studying graphic design, she worked as an
artistic director in Paris. In 2010, her friend, director
Hubert Viel, suggested she try her hand at acting - her
interpretation of Kalie Steaux in “Artémis Cœur dʼ’Artichaut” charmed the press as well as several directors
from the famous young generation of French cinema,
including Marina
Ma Diaby for her “Dragonʼ’s demise”.
Alban Guyon is a former student of the Conservatoire
National Supérieur dʼ’Art Dramatique in Paris. He has
acted for many important theatre directors including
François Orsoni (”Jean la chance”;; “Baal”), Georges Lavaudant (”El Pelele”), Thierry de Peretti (”Richard 2”;;
“Les Illuminations”), Olivier Treiner (”Le petit maître
corrigé”) and Jean-Louis Martinelli (”Calme”;; “Britannicus”). For the cinema, he has acted in “Regular
lovers” by Philippe Garel.
He has also played characters in short films by Mati
Diop, “Last Night” and “Snow Canon”, as well as
Marina Diaby, “The Dragonʼ’s Demise”. He is currently
working on “Lʼ’Avare” directed by Jean-Louis Martinelli.
cast
Marianne
Angele
mike
Dr.cornett
Emilie caen
noemie rosset
alban guyon
lamine diaby
crew
Director and screenplay marina diaby -‐ Production sebastien haguenauer
cinematography ronan boudier -‐ sound nicolas mas -‐ editing loic lallemand
sound design roman dimny -‐ first assistant director celie valdenaire -‐ set design
charlotte luneau -‐ casting judith chalier youna de peretti laetitia lambert
france -‐ color -‐ dcp-‐ 2:40 -‐ 26 min -‐ 2015