In a small village of the South of France, life is made difficult by a sweltering heat wave and its corollary, a worrisome lack of water. Everyone is under great pressure, especially the farmers whose fields are not irrigated. Which is the reason why the residents are less and less well-disposed toward one of them, Joseph, a young man whose never-ending antics are becoming, in such fraught context, something of an intolerable inconvenience. The mayor tries desperately to calm things down but nothing helps...
Acting
Gadebois simmers with dangerous, pathetic energy
Cinematography
Sun-bleached frames that make you thirsty
Direction
Jacoulot weaponizes weather as character
Director
Raphaël Jacoulot
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Jacoulot drew from real 2003 French heat wave deaths that killed 15,000, mostly in rural areas ignored by media.
The film deliberately withholds Joseph's backstory until late, forcing us to participate in the village's rush to judgment.
FR
