13th(2011)
Myriam AZIZA
Juliette, a twelve-year-old shy and unhappy girl, is fascinated by her French teacher, Mrs. Solenska. Showing great humour and imagination, she likes to seduce her young audience; her class is her scene, and her pupils her best spectators. Persuaded to be her favorite pupil, Juliette imagines a privileged relationship with this woman. But one day, she sees Antoine going out from Mrs. Solenska¡¯s apartment.
Solenska. Flaunting herself with a liberal attitude for sex and stylish dresses and showing great humor and imagination, she likes to captivate her young audience. Her class is her stage and her pupils are her best spectators. Thinking of herself as Mrs. Solenska¡®s favorite student, Juliette blindly falls in love that exhausts her. One day, Juliette goes in secret to Mrs. Solenska¡®s apartment and sees Antoine, another student in her class, coming out from the apartment. Juliette¡®s uncontrolled imagination due to a sense of betrayal and jealousy drives everybody into a catastrophe.
Mrs. Solenska is a perfect example of ideal femininity to those teenagers. However, the femininity is transformed into power, and the boundaries between education and seduction become blurred in Mrs. Solenska¡®s class. Both stories of Lacemaking Woman which Mrs. Solenska lent Juliette and The Evening Dress, intersect each other in that how turning away from clear existence of power relationship in regard of love can go astray and how difficult it is to understand each other beyond the difference of power. This film, which tells a story entirely from Juliette¡®s perspective, sensuously conveys the feelings of Juliette such as loneliness, longing, love, jealousy, a sense of betrayal and embarrassment through dresses, colors, scents and so forth. Also, the bright, transparent texture created by filming with a Red One digital camera and cinemascopic margins of the film highlight Juliette¡®s feelings for Mrs. Solenska and her loneliness and pain. (CHO Hye-young)
Synopsis
Juliette, a twelve-year-old shy and unhappy girl, is fascinated by her French teacher, Mrs. Solenska. Showing great humour and imagination, she likes to seduce her young audience; her class is her scene, and her pupils her best spectators. Persuaded to be her favorite pupil, Juliette imagines a privileged relationship with this woman. But one day, she sees Antoine going out from Mrs. Solenska¡¯s apartment.
Program Note
Solenska. Flaunting herself with a liberal attitude for sex and stylish dresses and showing great humor and imagination, she likes to captivate her young audience. Her class is her stage and her pupils are her best spectators. Thinking of herself as Mrs. Solenska¡®s favorite student, Juliette blindly falls in love that exhausts her. One day, Juliette goes in secret to Mrs. Solenska¡®s apartment and sees Antoine, another student in her class, coming out from the apartment. Juliette¡®s uncontrolled imagination due to a sense of betrayal and jealousy drives everybody into a catastrophe.
Mrs. Solenska is a perfect example of ideal femininity to those teenagers. However, the femininity is transformed into power, and the boundaries between education and seduction become blurred in Mrs. Solenska¡®s class. Both stories of Lacemaking Woman which Mrs. Solenska lent Juliette and The Evening Dress, intersect each other in that how turning away from clear existence of power relationship in regard of love can go astray and how difficult it is to understand each other beyond the difference of power. This film, which tells a story entirely from Juliette¡®s perspective, sensuously conveys the feelings of Juliette such as loneliness, longing, love, jealousy, a sense of betrayal and embarrassment through dresses, colors, scents and so forth. Also, the bright, transparent texture created by filming with a Red One digital camera and cinemascopic margins of the film highlight Juliette¡®s feelings for Mrs. Solenska and her loneliness and pain. (CHO Hye-young)
Myriam AZIZAMyriam AZIZA
Myriam AZIZA studied filmmaking in the FEMIS. There, she directed three short fiction films Except on Friday, Misunderstanding, As We Breath which were awarded in different festivals. After graduation, she co-directed two documentaries about identity questions, Our Silent Traces (1998) and Separated (2001). She shot her third documentary Next Year in Jerusalem, and made a feature-length debut The Evening Dress.