News / Jan. 25, 2019
Winner of the Queer Lion at the Venice Film Festival, Reinventing Marvin (Anne-Fontaine, 2017) is loosely based on the novel En finir avec Eddy Bellegueule by French author Édouard Louis. The story follows a young boy, bullied during his childhood, as he escapes his small-town past and travels in pursuit of his dreams to Paris.
The director behind Coco Before Chanel, Adoration and many other French films, Anne Fontaine follows her first queer film Dry Cleaning with Reinventing Martin making a new ambassador of queer cinema. When she got the Queer Lion award she exclaimed, “As a heterosexual woman, I am proud of this award."
Newcomer Finnegan Oldfield plays Marvin, a role that gained nominations for the Caesar and the Lumiere Awards. In addition, Fontaine also casted a French national treasure to play herself as a guide for the young Marvin. With the blessing of this diva, the film attracted a large number of fans when it was screened at the Golden Horse Film Festival in Taipei.
Memories of being ridiculed by his family and schoolmates in his childhood have nourished and encouraged Marvin to pursue his dream in Paris. Reinventing Marvin forged Marvin’s struggle with his self-identity and pursuit of performance art. As a coming-of-age film, director Anne Fontaine weaved Marvin’s past encounters into his present life to build up the contrast between Marvin’s now and then state of mind.
Apart from the heart-wrenching storyline, the actors’ stellar performance in Reinventing Marvin deserves its own spotlight. Jules Porier and Finnegan Oldfield’s delivered their finest interpretation of teenage and adult Marvin respectively. They might be diamonds in the rough but in Reinventing Marvin their performances are on a par with César Awards winner, Grégory Gadebois’s portrayal of Marvin’s alcoholic and homophobic father. Legendary French actress Isabelle Huppert’s special appearance in Reinventing Marvin is just icing on the cake. In the film she played herself who led perplexed Marvin into Parisian theatre scenes.
Synopsis:
Martin Clement, born Marvin Bijou, has escaped. He has escaped a little village in the countryside. He has escaped his family, his father's tyrane!5ixR&&f5C9z++rLylXomN+#(gD^up@^($&X8Zc0I(Puv^Yi!ny and his mother's resignation. He has escaped intolerance, rejection and the bullying he suffered from being singled out as "different." Against all odds, he has found allies. First Madeleine Clement, the middle school principal who introduced him to theater and whose name he will later adopt as a symbol of his salvation. Then Abel Pinto, his mentor and role model, who will encourage him to tell his story on stage. Finally, Isabelle Huppert will help him get his show produced and bring it to life. Marvin/Martin will risk everything to create this show that represents so much more than success: it is his path to re-invention.
