The first installment of the series “The Selection of music That Makes the Film” will focus on “The Passengers of the Night” directed by Mikhaël Hers. Television, John Cale, Kim Wilde, The Pale Fountains–Set in Paris in the 1980s, Charlotte Gainsbourg plays a middle-aged woman who is left to raise her teenage son and daughter on her own. The film, in which Charlotte Gainsbourg plays a middle-aged woman raising a teenage son and daughter on her own, uses a lot of music that evokes the atmosphere of the city at that time. Music director / critic Yuji Shibasaki will discuss the film with the keyword “the duality of works dealing with the past”.
※This article contains descriptions of the contents of the film. Please note that this article contains descriptions of the content of the film.
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A masterpiece film reminiscing about Paris in the 1980s
Director Mikhaël Hers is a contemporary master of depicting the eternal themes of human life: loss and rebirth. After his exceptional masterpieces “This Summer Feeling ” and “Amanda” his latest film “The Passengers of the Night” depicts, with a very delicate touch, the nature of “loss” and “rebirth” of a family through their seven-year transition.
The “loss” in this film is not only the “loss” of each character, but also a beautiful requiem for a certain era. It is a remembrance of the sights, smells, and sounds of Paris in the 1980s, and a thoughtful reflection on the passage of time as French society underwent major transformations, which at times became hopes and at other times disappointments.
The film begins on May 10, 1981, the day of the French presidential election. On the day that the leftist François Mitterrand was elected president in place of the long-ruling conservative government, the streets of Paris were suddenly enveloped in celebration, and people on the street exchanged pleasantries with one another. In the midst of the festivities, a young girl dressed in punk fashion wanders through a subway station. Her name is Talulah (Noée Abita).
In addition to Talulah, the story revolves around the film’s starring characters, Élisabeth (Charlotte Gainsbourg), a grieving mother separated from her husband, and her children Matthias(Quito Rayon-Richter) and Judith (Megan Northam). In addition, early in the film, Élisabeth seeks a job as a staff member of a late-night radio show she has long loved to listen to in order to earn a living, where she meets DJ Vanda (Emmanuelle Béart), two actresses who have represented French cinema since the 1980s: Gainsbourg and Béart, Fans of Gainsbourg and Béart will be thrilled to see their encounter in a film set in the 1980s.
