Film: Skirt Day
Running time: 87 mins
Director: Jean-Paul Lilienfeld
Starring: Isabelle Adjani, Denis Podalydès, Yann Collette, Nathalie Besançon, Marc Citti
Genre: Drama
Country: France/Belgium
This film was screened at the French Film Festival during its tenure at the Glasgow Film Theatre in November 2010.
Jean-Paul Lilienfeld has certainly ensured his new film Skirt Day will be talked about. Not only is it set in the hotbed of social issues that is Paris’ outer regions, it also sees the return after a five year big-screen hiatus of Isabelle Adjani, one of the most celebrated actresses in the history of French cinema. Lilienfeld’s film takes place in a lower class high school, and deals with some of the biggest issues of the day such as race, class and the French education system.
Adjani plays Sonia Bergerac, a French literature teacher at a high school on the wrong side of the tracks. She is abused and ignored by her pupils daily, taunted for wearing a skirt to work, and has resorted to taking pills in order to cope with the stress of her job.
When Sonia intervenes between two pupils who are arguing over what to do with a gun that has come into their possession, she inadvertently shoots one of the boys on the leg. In her panic she orders her class to get onto the ground, and a hostage situation unfolds.
Initially startled by what is happening, Sonia soon sees the incident as an opportunity to exact revenge on the pupils who have caused her so much grief, and to finally get through to them in a way more conventional teaching methods have so far failed to do…
Skirt Day wastes no time in getting started. Rather than introducing us to Sonia and her pupils before the incident in her class, Lilienfeld instead allows us to come to an understanding of them in the most extreme of circumstances. This works well, as we do not enter into the situation with any pre-conceived notions of who is right and wrong. It may be tempting to assume that Sonia is some kind of psychopath when we see her leer with delight at the terror on her pupils’ faces, but we soon learn that this is only because it mirrors the fear that they have induced in her. Similarly we may take some sadistic pleasure in seeing Mouss (Yann Ebonge), a gun toting sexist ASBO case, have the tables turned on him, but this changes when we learn that he is just a young man in a bad situation, who treats his mother with respect and dreams of being a footballer. Indeed, there is a great depth to almost every character in the film. This is exemplified in a sub-plot involving Labouret (Denis Podalydés), the hostage negotiator who is brought in to talk to Sonia. He has been called away suddenly from his wife’s birthday to be there and, with their relationship already strained, she has decided to leave him. This is paralleled interestingly with Sonia’s own situation as her estranged husband shows up to the school. The message is clear: no-one can avoid taking the stresses of their private lives into work.
In addition to being well written, Skirt Day is an enjoyable film from a visual point of view, managing to employ different styles and techniques to ensure that the film’s small setting does not become a hindrance. Long hand-held shots evoke the tight, nervy conditions of the classroom, and close-ups allow the camera to get the best out of the performers - their faces bearing testament to the gravity of the situation. In addition to this, the camera used by the SWAT team to look into the classroom allows important plot information to be conveyed, as well as offering variety from a visual standpoint - a very clever idea.
This is all well and good, but the question everyone wants answered is simple: is Isabelle Adjani’s performance worth the wait? That it is already award-winning says something, but to leave it at that does not do her justice. Her performance is sensational, starting off as shaken and confused, moving into manic and sadistic, before arriving at genuinely emotional and inspirational. She delivers political opinion with such sincere ferociousness that, given her own early history, we can safely assume there are issues here which are important to Adjani herself. Her performance is certainly aided by an excellent supporting cast who belie their years in their ability to deal with sensitive, important issues in a believable way. Podalydés, too, adds much to the film, as arguably the only character we can truly relate to he provides some light relief, as well as adding to the ever increasing drama of the film.
While there may be some slight drawbacks in terms of how easily the class come to terms with their situation, this is more than forgivable when considering the issues that Lilienfeld is having them deal with. It would have been difficult to discuss race relations and teenage sexuality if the whole class had been running around hysterically or cowering in the corner quietly sobbing. Rather than nitpicking, it is better simply to enjoy a tense, well balanced and exceptionally well performed piece of cinema.
Full of emotion, hostility and dark humour, Skirt Day provides heart-pounding drama and astute social commentary in equal doses. All of this is capped off with a scintillating performance from Isabelle Adjani, who really does teach a lesson to any aspiring actresses. PK
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