Coda

The first film that we were able to discover during our first international coverage of the Sundance festival remains in my opinion the most successful and most personal of the twenty or so films that our media was able to discover during this festival. Far from being a simple American remake of one of our favorite French films La famille Bélier by Eric Lartigau with Louane Emera, Coda rehabilitates and appropriates this film and gives us a universal film about a family of deaf people and the many difficulties they face. By moving the action from Lassay-les-Châteaux (Mayenne) to Gloucester (Massachusetts) and by changing from a farming environment to one of preachers, director and screenwriter Sian Heder reappropriates and readapts La famille Bélier but above all succeeds in erasing the few flaws of the French film to deliver quite simply one of the most beautiful films discovered recently.

The title Coda (Child of Deaf Adults) refers to children born of deaf parents as is the case here of Ruby (Emilia Jones). As a young student, she divides her life between her school and her devouring passion for music and helping her brother and her parents, all three of whom are deaf. At the age of 17, she works the morning before school to help her parents (Marlee Matlin and Troy Kotsur) and her brother (Daniel Durant) keep their Gloucester fishing business afloat. But when she joined her high school choir club, Ruby found herself drawn to both her duet partner (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo) and her latent passion for singing. Her enthusiastic and tough-as-nails music teacher (Eugenio Derbez) hears something special and encourages Ruby to consider music school and a future beyond fishing, leaving her torn between her obligations to her family and the pursuit of her dream. The many similarities in Coda's construction with the Aries family in no way spoils our enjoyment of this film. On the contrary, the director Siam Heder by choosing really deaf actors to play the role of the parents and to play Ruby's brother totally reinforces the credibility of the film and shows all the beauty of sign language but also all its strength to express itself without common measure.

While most American remakes simply reproduce the films they are inspired by, adding a prestigious cast but without really wanting to take a step back, Coda finds the perfect way to offer a film of rare emotion and above all confirms the limitless potential of the young actress Emilia Jones whose success in this film is partly due to her (High-Rise (2015), Ghostland (2018), the series Utopia and Locke & Key). In the same way the other actors, notably Eugenio Derbez, Marlee Matlin, Troy Kotsur, Daniel Durant are just as perfect in their roles and give Coda all his strength and fragility.

The numerous sung numbers of the film are perfectly brought and touch us deeply because through the character of Ruby we glimpse the duality of a teenager caught between her passion for music and her parents, her school and her important help to her parents. In the same way, this film has nothing of a Hollywood fairy tale, as shown by the financial difficulties that Rudy's parents are going through and the fact that going to school for a long time may seem impossible for her. The audition scene at the end of the film is probably one of the strongest and most moving scenes seen in a long time as it gives Ruby's character a way to mix her two ways of communicating (sign language, orally).

Coda is thus one of the best American adaptations of the last few years. A film that we didn't see coming but that remains in our memory long after we've seen it. Siân Heder signs here a second film that should open the doors of the big Hollywood studios and especially a film that we will see again with the same pleasure when it will be broadcasted on Apple TV+.

Coda
Written and directed by Siân Heder
Produced by Philippe Rousselet, Fabrice Gianfermi, Patrick Wachsberger
Executive Producers: Ardavan Safaee, Sarah Borch-Jacobsen
Production Designer: Diane Lederman
Starring Emilia Jones, Eugenio Derbez, Troy Kotsur, Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, Daniel Durant and Marlee Matlin
Music by Nick Baxter
Executive Music Producer: Marius de Vries
Costume Designer : Brenda Abbandandolo
Cinematography: Paula Huidobro
Edited by Geraud Brisson
Distributed by Vendôme Pictures and Pathé Films
Release date: January 28, 2021 (Sundance)
Running time: 111 minutes

Seen on January 29, 2021 (Sundance Festival)

Mulder's Mark: