L’Esquive (La schivata)

Directed by

Abdellatif Kechiche

24 March
-
21:30
  • Teatro Kursaal Santalucia
Free Entry
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Event details

DIRECTOR:

Abdellatif Kechiche

RUNNING TIME:

117 minutes

CAST:

Osman Elkharraz, Sara Forestier, Sabrina Ouazani, Nanou Benhamou, Hafet Ben-Ahmed

COUNTRY:

France

YEAR OF PRODUCTION:

2003

In a small town on the outskirts of Paris lives Lydia, a beautiful, dreamy girl. After being chosen to star in the end-of-year play inspired by Marivaux’s ‘The Game of Chance and Love’, she decides to buy a beautiful 18th-century princess dress for the occasion. Lydia knows it is a stage costume but cannot resist the temptation: she puts it on and struts through the streets of her neighbourhood with the ease of a true diva. Instead of thinking she’s mad, people are enchanted by her, as is Krimo, the local tough guy who falls for her at first sight. On the one hand, the boy would like to confess his feelings; on the other, he wants to maintain the tough-guy reputation he has among his friends. In the end, he decides to accept a part in the show and, thanks to his character’s lines, he finally manages to express his love to her.

Abdellatif Kechiche

Abdellatif Kechiche is one of the most influential figures in contemporary European cinema. A Franco-Tunisian director, screenwriter and actor, winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes and a point of reference for a generation of filmmakers, Kechiche has built a cinematic style that delves into social dynamics and human relationships, whilst also questioning the present through an authorial gaze that explores bodies and obsessions. The BIF&ST presents a retrospective of seven of the director’s films: Tutta colpa di Voltaire (2000), La schivata (2003), Cous Cous (2007), Venere nera (2010), La vita di Adele (2013), Mektoub, my love – Canto uno (2017) and the Italian premiere of Mektoub, my love – Canto due (2025), the highly anticipated new chapter in Kechiche’s magnum opus, which takes us back to the Mediterranean south of France amidst the hopes and turmoil of youth in the 1990s.

Filmography

Tutta colpa di Voltaire, La schivata, Cous Cous, Venere nera, La vita di Adele, Mektoub, my love – Canto uno, Mektoub, my love – Canto due