La voleuse de St. Lubin
France,
2000, 78 min
Shown in 2000
CREDITS
- dir
-
Claire Devers
- prod
-
Gilles Sandoz
- scr
-
Claire Devers, Jean-Louis Benoit
- cam
-
Hélène Louvart
- editor
-
Marie Castro, Monica Coleman
- cast
-
Dominique Blanc, Denis Podalydès, Michèle Goddet
- source
-
Mercure Distribution, 27, rue de la Butte aux Cailles, 75013 Paris, France. FAX: 33-1-45-65-07-47. EMAIL: infos@mercure-distribution.fr
- premiere
-
North American Premiere
OTHER
Based on the real-life case of a fiercely independent single mother first exonerated for stealing a few packages of meat, then retried as an example-setting punishment, this is an account of one woman’s tortuous passage through a judicial system that almost encourages breaking the law. Politically unsophisticated, the woman lives in a world of futility and endless frustration, in which even a senseless act of random criminality gives her a quick, wonderfully uncontrollable sense of liberation. Juxtaposing this sudden sense of freedom and power with her oppressive, overriding guilt over once voting for a far-right politician, the film expands its political edge further, showing that even a supposedly lawless act such as shoplifting creates far less violence than the legitimized rituals of the National Front. Wearing its heart on its sleeve, The Thief of St. Lubin vents such a strongly defined anger that few will remain unmoved by its heroine’s plight or by Dominique Blanc’s emotionally powerful performance. A film of raw power rather than MTV visual slickness, this installment of the politically committed French Gauche-Droite collection uses the anonymous, almost banal act of shoplifting to explore universal issues of poverty and social justice.
FACTOID #232
Our first seminar at the Festival was entitled Censorship and the Actor’s Art: A Symposium, featuring panelists Michael Mayer and Lou Greenspan at Grace Cathedral, October 24, 1966.
