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#7 THE POETRY OF PROSE
07/09/2006
Jean-Pascal Hattu's film is indeed very French in that it deals with its subject with a sobriety (in the dialogues, very faithful to what everyday life conversations sound like, as well as in the very natural lights) greatly appreciated on the Lido, avoiding melodrama and still managing to convey the suffering of a couple separated by a prison wall. This objective depiction of prison life outside prison, through Maïté (wife of the convict), reflects in fact the characters' acceptance of the situation. 7 ans is a transparent, unbiased window through which we can observe, in a series of close-ups, the ritual which has become part of Maïté's life (the visits in prison, the laundry which allows her to smell her husband Vincent's smell and spray her perfume on the clothes she then brings back to him), but this routine is disrupted when Vincent, now completely dependent upon her, finds a way to control the situation by providing her a lover, the prison guard Jean.
Yet, what seems to be love triangle is in fact a game with only two players, for the lover is objectified - like the tape recorder he carries in and out of the prison, he is only a vector whose role is to reflect the perfectly symmetrical love of this torn-apart couple (like the clothes Maïté is allowed to bring to Vincent, lovers only go "two by two"). Thus, what could have been the subject of a documentary is in fact a story of absolute love, a poetic tale not lacking lovely details, such as the presence of this incredibly mature kid who perceives Maïté's need for carnality and witnesses her adultery.
How did you get the idea to combine such a realistic approach and the story of such an absolute, and therefore almost surreal, love?
In the course of some research for a documentary on prison guards, I had the opportunity to talk to some prisoners and especially their wives, whose accounts on how they deal with the lack of intimacy profoundly moved me. They recurrently admitted to ritually smell their husbands' clothes before washing them, to hide behind their coats, like teeenagers, to kiss the prisoners... One woman even told me that she used binoculars to observe, from a distance, her husband's window. Their difficult situation actually augments their passion.
Maïté is an impressively strong character, probably the strongest...
She is indeed the one who maintains the household and the one who eventually, makes the most of this strange "love triangle" (for Jean is only a tool —in fact, in prison, guards even call themselves "key-holders"— and Vincent loses control). Maïté is a determined woman who wants everything; she wants to be able to rekindle every day her husband's love but also to give free rein to her curiosity towards Jean —which she even manages to justify a posteriori.
Who are your favourite directors?
Those who made me feel like making films are Bresson, Bergman and the Italian neo-realists (I love Rosselini's Stromboli). In terms of more "recent" filmmakers, I like Pialat, Téchiné, and Chabrol.
Bénédicte Prot (Cineuropa)
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