Jim's Novel: a Karim Leklou festival [critique]

The Larrieu brothers abandon their usual madness for a while to shoot a romantic western in the Jura. A great success.

Jim's Novel? Karim's novel, rather. He is the center of gravity, the axis mundi of this film-novel (adapted from a book by Pierric Bailly) that spans decades, where the characters change for better or for worse, attract and leave each other, constantly invent and reinvent other forms of family. And so, at the heart of all this, Karim Leklou, who is a type of star in his own right. Not the all-consuming star who crushes the entire frame, but the one that the film has designated as an anchor point, as a referent, as a physical incarnation (not what he did, in short, in Bac Nord, where he nevertheless had the best role). Let's start again: it's Karim's novel, the novel of Aymeric (his character), an apprentice photographer thwarted by a stay in prison in the Jura in the 90s and finds himself the father of a child (the famous Jim) who is not his. Not a social chronicle, not a thesis film, but in fact a melodrama (often funny) that gives all those who have appeared in front of the camera a chance to exist. This is probably to the detriment of the usual madness of the Larrieu, here put a little off-screen (via the character of Laetitia Dosch, who almost deserves a film all to herself) or in any case on its edge (big up to Sara Giraudeau, teacher and clubber). In fact, rather than a “new Larrieu” (remember: their previous film, Tralala, was a stunning musical comedy in Lourdes), Le Roman de Jim is a kind of new western: a film betting everything on its hero, who thinks he will find his way in the West, that is to say the world (or in the rocks of the Jura) as long as he keeps his moral rectitude. In two words: very strong.

By Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu. With Karim Leklou, Laetitia Dosch, Bertrand Belin… Duration 1h41. Released on August 14, 2024