A Bear in the Jura: A very frosty black comedy [critique]

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For his third feature film as director, Franck Dubosc changes register and signs a film as touching as it is perfectly acted

Both a huge comic machine and a filmmaker driven by a concern for accuracy, Franck Dubosc occupied a special place in the world of French comedy. Weariness? Crisis of inspiration? In any case, after his two directorial films, Everyone standing And Rumba lifehe has obviously decided to change genre and register. At the beginning ofA Bear in the Jura we follow, in the middle of the French mountains, migrants responsible for transporting drugs for a mafioso. An impalement, a pile-up and a few gunshots later, a poor local guy finds himself with a pile of money too big for him. This is the start of the trouble.
Houses hidden under a thick layer of powder, a lost hole in the ice of the Jura… The decor here is not just an excuse. By giving a new framework to his cinema, Dubosc also gives it a new heart. His calm gaze, attentive to reality, creates relief where there is none. Everything seems more vibrant in this territory covered in a white coat. The chalets, the super U, the constabulary, but above all the people who live there. There is this good-natured and moving gendarme (played by a Poelvoorde full of tenderness), this woman who is bored but who will gradually get caught up in the game (Calamy speed and whimsical) or this cop who is smarter than expected (Joséphine de Meaux) . Because if the black comedy against an immaculate background is well put together, it is on the fringes of the plot that this Bear finds its true carburetion. In the numb intimacy of the natives. In their slow-motion dialogues and attention to detail which become amusing without warning. It's sometimes too much (too rich – the intrigues overflow – too crazy too), but the real strength of the film is that these characters always regain the upper hand.

By Franck Dubosc. With Franck Dubosc, Laure Calamy, Benoit Poelvoorde… Duration: 1h52. Released January 1, 2025



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