A film by Martin Jauvat
With: Martin Jauvat, Emmanuelle Bercot, William Lebghil, Anaïde Rozam, Sébastien Chassagne, Annabelle Lengronne, Michel Hazanavicius, Jérôme Niel, Géraldine Pailhas, Mahamadou Sangaré
Sprite, a 20-year-old young adult, returns to Chelles after a breakup. To pay for his driver’s license and please his parents, he joins Allo Nettoyo, a night-time cleaning start-up in the Paris suburbs. Unable to get around without a permit, he adopts the “baise-en-ville” technique—taught by his driving instructor—which involves spending the night at girls’ places of girls he meets through a dating app. Sprite struggles with this new approach to seduction.
Our rate: **
After Grand Paris in 2023, Martin Jauvat returns with a new feature film presented at Cannes Critics’ Week. Entitled Baise-en-ville – a nod to the bag containing the bare necessities for a night at a stranger’s house – the film follows the struggles of Sprite, alias Corentin Perrier, 25, unemployed, stuck in an absurd circle: to work, he needs a license, but to pay for the license, he needs a job. Played by Jauvat himself, Sprite meets a gallery of unique characters on his path: his driving school instructor Marie-Charlotte, played by a hilarious Emmanuelle Bercot, and his crazy boss (Sébastien Chassagne). Romantic encounters, often initiated via apps, spice up this initiatory journey that is both tender and wacky. With its burlesque humor, its pop aesthetic reminiscent of Alexis Langlois‘s The queen of dramas, and its offbeat staging, Baise-en-ville paints a sincere and luminous portrait of a youth in question: gentle virility, mixed friendships, family ties and fleeting loves… A funny, inventive and refreshing film, carried by a delightfully accurate cast.
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