Le Bois de Vincennes, a huge, mostly wild forest just outside Paris, is a secret shelter for many Parisians. A genius loci and even a contemporary Noah’s Ark, if not a lost paradise where all kinds of people escape the dangers and chaos of the city. Migrants, natives, prostitutes and their anonymous clients, stalkers, loners, philosophers, romantics, artists and dreamers come here to find solace and discover themselves. Some even live amidst this wilderness as outcasts and hermits, believing that only by communing with nature can they really be free and understand the meaning of life as well as return to their childhood, the true home of every human being.
Claire Simon interviews and follows them with great delicacy, opening a door to a totally different life hidden just beyond the urban landscape of Paris. A truly humane view on contemporary man.
Film details
Countries of production
France, Switzerland
Year
2015
Festival edition
IFFR 2016
Length
144'
Medium/Format
DCP
Language
French
Premiere status
None
Director
Claire Simon
Producer
Gerard Monier, Sandrine Dumas, Jean-Luc Ormières
Screenplay
Claire Simon
Cinematography
Claire Simon
Sound design
François Musy, Gabriel Hafner, Olivier Hespel
Production company
Just Sayin' Films, Tipimages Productions, PIO & Co