We had the pleasure of interviewing director Catherine Corsini about Homecoming, competing for the Palme d’Or at the 76th Cannes Film Festival.
The 76th Cannes Film Festival is ongoing and unveils a number of gems everyday. We were delighted to discover Homecoming (Le Retour) presented in Competition, and therefore competing for the Palme d’Or. Two years after her impressive The Divide, which swept the Queer Palm, Catherine Corsini is back on the Croisette with a charming and captivating feature set in Corsica, starring Aïssatou Diallo Sagna. We had the pleasure of sitting down with director Catherine Corsini for a chat about the making of Homecoming.
Film Fest Report: What comes to the fore in Homecoming is how fantastic and wonderful the actresses are. How did you find especially the two sisters and how did you work with them?
Catherine Corsini: At the beginning I thought of having a gorilla casting because I wanted to have nonprofessional, unknown, actors. But we posted actually posters everywhere. And unfortunately the return has not been as we expected. So, I ended up choosing two actresses that had already worked. Esther Gohourou had played in a Mignonnes by Maïmouna Doucouré (presented at the 2020 Directors’ Fortnight) and Suzy Bemba in a television series called Opera (directed by Cécile Ducrocq and Benjamin Adam). Then, I put them together working with a coach because I wanted them to come on set with already a feeling of a relationship, of a family in a way, and also the tensions, especially in relationship with the mother and daughter. And then I also had them work with a coach for the body movement, for the scene of the party where I wanted them to pretend that they were under the influence of some substances, which they look like in the film.
“Corsica is a land of many colors and contrasts. […] It’s a very hospitable land that can also look very harsh and somehow repulsive.”
Film Fest Report: How was it for you to shoot in Corsica? And what kind of portrait of Corsica did you wish to give?
Catherine Corsini: It is indeed a land, a region of many colors and contrasts, starting from the geographical contrast with the mountains and the sea, the south and the north, and the fact that people living in the south are said to be more open and welcoming than the ones that live in the north that are more closed. Not to mention the people living in the mountains that are completely clammed up. And it’s a place where you can hide. You can get completely lost and lose the traces of your passage. It’s a country that wishes to become independent, but and it’s made of the harshness of rocks and the softness of the beaches of the sands. It’s a land of contrasts, even culturally. It’s a very hospitable land that can also look very harsh and somehow repulsive.
Film Fest Report: The film reminded me of Secrets and Lies by Mike Leigh (Palme d’Or winner in 1996), especially because of the strength of the dialog between the mother and her daughter. At the same time, the film offers some kind of raw reality. How were you able to balance between this sophisticated drama and this documentary background of yours, that was remarkable in your previous feature, The Divide?
Catherine Corsini: It is true that when I made The Divide, my idea of cinema shifted a little bit because I was working with real caring people and this was a reality that is so present in our life and so much filmed and portrayed also on social media that it is very hard for cinema not to take it into account. So, this is why I decided in this film that I was going to film Corsica as if it were a character itself, because I believe that it’s important to always consider what is the image that something or someone portrays and what lies behind. For instance, I selected the actors for their ability to play role that I entrusted them with, but I wanted to be able to see their own truth as human beings. Indeed, I went back to see Secrets and lies, which is very topical in terms of subject, maybe a bit outdated in the way it is filmed, but I gather inspiration also from different television series and films in order to update myself on the way adolescents and young people move, dress and behave, what their patterns are, etc. I also listened very much to my young co-writer Naïla Guiget who is 35 years old, and I thought she was very precise and had a more objective gaze than me on these young people.
Film Fest Report: There are a lot of layers to your film. One of them is the second-generation immigrants. How did you work out to shape the characters?
Catherine Corsini: I think that some of the second-generation immigrants had a hard time coming to terms with the fact that their parents accepted to be treated as modern slaves, so to speak, that they accepted to be subject to the rules that they were given, which they accepted without questioning. So, some of the second-generation immigrants want to get revenge and fight that kind of mentality. And one way of fighting it is Jessica’s way, that is to study and become a successful woman or her sister’s attitude, which is completely different. Jessica got the best place and she had no other alternative than to rebel against this and against the fact that the parents somehow accepted to serve “the French state and government”. So, there is a big question from a political point of view in terms of the submissive role that was played by the family and less acceptance of that, not only by the second generation, but now by the third generation of immigrants. And there is a sort of political awareness of that. That has to do with the increase of mixed races that is occurring in the country. And it’s also prompted through the social media that allowed these young people to find themselves and to grieve. And all of these questions are raised and discussed by them. Finally, I think there is also pride in what they are. And that was something that their parents did not have. They felt ashamed. Moreover, as a filmmaker, I witnessed that even though my actresses come from different cultural environments, it is crucial for them to preserve and to keep the connection with their original culture. They are not ready to give it up. No way. On the contrary, they want to acknowledge it and never to deny it. And this is another reason for pride that they have.
Acknowledgements: Gary Walsh.
