Saint-Ex

In July 1944, Saint-Exupéry disappeared during a flight. As the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of this disappearance draws to a close, the film Saint-Ex arrives on our screens with a bold choice by director Pablo Aguero to make a poetic film, to restore the power of the imagination of the writer of Little Prince.

Director Pablo Aguero chooses to retrace a little-known episode in the life of this aviator, a decisive week where he sets off in search of his friend Guillaumet lost in the Andes. It is a story of friendship, from life to death, told in Terre des Hommes in 1939 by Saint-Exupéry. At the time, Saint-Exupéry and Guillaumet delivered mail by plane for Aéropostale, a company whose advertising declared that these letters were more important than the lives of these pilots. The storyline focuses on a trio, Saint-Exupéry, Guillaumet and his wife. During the rescue, Saint-Ex, the dreamer, becomes a hero and Guillaumet, the strong man reveals himself to be vulnerable. The film also shows how the story of The Little Prince was written little by little, over the course of meetings and travels, during which this writer-poet drew in his notebooks and wrote down everything.

It's a return to his origins for the Argentinian director, born at the foot of these mountains known to be impassable at the time. Few directors have a universe, a vision. Pablo Aguero is one of them. His film tells an adventure, but it does so in a dreamlike way, and not through a historical reconstruction. Thus, the castle of childhood is recreated in an expressionist manner. The decorations are refined. There are no computer-generated images, but superpositions of planes, layers like in a painting. This choice of poetry instead of realism corresponds to the personality of Saint-Exupéry. The color palette is golden, orange, from sunsets to sandstorms. It turns silver when flying over the sea and snow-capped mountains. The images of flying over the Andes and Patagonia are sublime. The captivating music reinforces this beauty.

The film is carried by a trio of actors, whose complicity brings a lot to the film. Louis Garrel embodies an offbeat Saint-Ex, eternal dreamer, casual, unconscious, with a touch of humor and second degree. In contrast, Vincent Cassel plays the virile, loud-mouthed, self-confident aviator. Diane Kruger plays Guillaumet's wife, a modern and courageous woman.

Saint-Ex is an adventure film, rare in its poetic form, faithful to the spirit of this writer-poet adventurer, hero of resilience and imagination.

Saint-Ex
Written and Directed by Pablo Agüero
Produced by Julien Madon, Aimée Buidine
Starring Louis Garrel, Vincent Cassel, Diane Kruger, Sergej Onopko, Yseult, Blanche Redouloux
Cinematography : Claire Mathon
Edited by Christophe Pinel
Production companies : A Single Man Productions, Cheyenne Federation, Frakas Productions
Distributed by StudioCanal (France)
Release date : December 11, 2024 (France)
Running time : 98 minutes

Seen November 14, 2024 at Club Marbeuf

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