Romain Gavras Says Netflix’s ‘Athena’ Shaped a ‘Dogville’ in Suburb The place it Lensed

After the edgy crime comedy “The World Is Yours,” Romain Gavras is again with thriller “Athena.” Produced by Paris-based Iconoclast for Netflix, the formidable, €15 million movie ($15 million) unfolds within the aftermath of the tragic killing of a younger boy. A leaked video exhibiting the boy as a sufferer of police brutality goes viral and ignites an all-out warfare in an imaginary neighborhood known as Athena. It’s the primary French film that Netflix is presenting in competitors on the Venice Film Festival.

“Athena” tells the story of the boy’s three siblings, who’re responding to the tragedy in several methods. French star Dali Benssalah (“Les Sauvages,” “No Time to Die”) performs the older brother, Abdel, a French soldier. Confronted with an unattainable ethical dilemma, Abdel known as again from the frontline to assist diffuse the all-out warfare that has been sparked by his youthful brother Karim (Sami Slimane), who needs revenge. Athena turns into the backdrop of a tragedy for each the household and its whole neighborhood. The movie’s stellar forged additionally consists of Ouassini Embarek, Anthony Bajon and Alexis Manenti.

It’s a ardour venture for Gavras, who co-wrote the script with Ladj Ly (“Les Miserables”) and Elias Beldeddar, in addition to government producing it.

Gavras informed Selection that he and Ly needed to inform a narrative about “a divided brotherhood whose ache will tear aside their neighborhood and the remainder of the nation.” By means of this intimate story, Gavras stated he needed the movie to reveal the insidious mechanism of a civil warfare, “the lies that can push individuals to have interaction in it,” stated the helmer who was born in Greece, the place he says the “ravages of the civil warfare can nonetheless be felt.”

The title of the neighborhood, Athena, refers back to the Greek tragedy parts of the story and means “warfare and knowledge.” “I like to make use of photographs and symbols to inform tales and Greek tragedies are crammed with symbols, and still have a time unit — Sophocles would say that the tragedy begins at dawn and ends at sundown.”

“Athena” was shot chronologically with lengthy sequences, and plunges viewers right into a downward spiral of violence resulting in chaos.

Benssalah, who delivers a breakthrough efficiency within the film, stated it’s probably the most emotionally demanding and bodily function of his profession.

“We had so many lengthy sequences to rehearse and we did so many takes that there have been no small scenes, however that’s what I really like too, as an actor, to push myself past my consolation zone, my limits and see the place it leads me,” stated Benssalah, who beforehand starred in Rebecca Zlotowski’s “Les Sauvages.”

He stated the movie shot principally at night time, which left him little or no time to reside exterior of filming. “To maintain up with the army mindset of my character I exercised on daily basis earlier than happening set, it gave me the internal energy of Abdel,” added Benssalah.

Though the backdrop of the movie is imaginary, it lensed in an actual suburb, in Évry-Courcouronnes, the place Gavras and his crew have been in a position to forged not solely extras but in addition many smaller elements. “90% of our forged is made of individuals from the neighborhood, we nearly acquired everybody concerned, from the forged to the catering and the set design,” stated the helmer, whose observe document in music movies consists of work for Kanye West, M.I.A. and Justice. He additionally co-founded the movie college Kourtrajmé with fellow director Kim Chapiron.

He stated the movie was completely rehearsed throughout two months previous to the beginning of filming, which meant that by the point they began capturing they already shaped a household. “It was just like the Cinecitta in Evry,” quipped Gavras.

The helmer defined that all the neighborhood noticed the story of the movie unfold in actual time and lived by way of it. “We created a gaggle dynamic inside our crew and the neighborhood. It was like ‘Dogville’ in Evry,” he added with a laugher.

Along with his background as a visible artist, Gavras handled the type of the movie with as a lot care as the remainder of it. “We created a choreography with references tied to opera and artists like Delacroix. In France, we have now this huge custom of cinema verité with handheld digital camera however I’m extra desirous about exploring photographs and symbolism in my movies,” stated Garvas.

The film additionally stands out from most movies about suburban youth or police brutality as a result of it implies the function of the far-right in fueling tensions.

“It’s a movie that’s between actuality and fiction, it’s a giant, shiny and colourful movie about one thing that might occur, or could have already occur,” stated Benssalah, including that the movie’s subtext refers to what makes the world flip right this moment, from the far proper to the media.

“Athena” was produced by Charles-Marie Anthonioz, Mourad Belkeddar, Jean Duhamel and Nicolas Lhermitte at Iconoclast. It’s going to debut on Netflix on Sept. 23.