De bruit et de fureur

Sound and Fury | Lärm und Wut
After his grandmother dies, Bruno returns to live with his mother on the 15th floor of a tower block in the housing projects of Bagnolet in Paris. His mother is gone all day, so the teenager has to make do with written instructions she leaves behind. His only intimate is a canary named Superman, who secretly pilots the boy through erotic dreams and night-time realms. In real life, Bruno faces school days filled with brutality. He makes friends with the worst of the trouble-makers, Jean-Roger. The delinquent gets his kicks setting homeless people on fire, following the lead of his father, a giant of a man with a penchant for weapons and brawling. When Bruno’s teacher starts giving him extra tutoring, Jean-Roger is engulfed with frenzied jealousy … Director Jean-Claude Brisseau was himself a teacher in Bagnolet and delivers a realistic depiction of the social misery in the Paris banlieues. Yet his film about youthful gang warfare and a cross-generational savagery also incorporates lyrical exaggeration and surreal violence. In his critique of grotesque social circumstances, he uses gallows humour to highlight the perverse conditions to which the dreamer Bruno will finally fall victim.
by Jean-Claude Brisseau
with Bruno Cremer, François Négret, Vincent Gasperitsch, Fabienne Babe, Lisa Hérédia (= María Luisa García), Fejria Deliba, Thierry Hélaine, Victoire Buff, Aurélie Sterling, Albert Montias,
France 1988 French 95’ Colour Rating R16

For the 2023 Retrospective, internationally renowned directors, actors, and screenwriters were asked to select their personal coming-of-age favourites.
Nadav Lapid on his selection

With

  • Bruno Cremer
  • François Négret
  • Vincent Gasperitsch
  • Fabienne Babe
  • Lisa Hérédia (= María Luisa García)
  • Fejria Deliba
  • Thierry Hélaine
  • Victoire Buff
  • Aurélie Sterling
  • Albert Montias

Crew

Director Jean-Claude Brisseau
Screenplay Jean-Claude Brisseau
Cinematography Romain Winding
Editing María Luisa García, Jean-Claude Brisseau, Annick Hurst
Sound Dominique Hennequin, Louis Gimel
Art Director María Luisa García
Costumes María Luisa García
Make-Up Florence Cossutta
Producer Margaret Ménégoz

Additional information

DCP: Les Films du Losange, Paris