Film still of Rester Vertical (Staying Vertical) © Thierry Valletoux
Alain Guiraudie opens the Competition with Rester Vertical (Staying Vertical)
He caused a stir with L’Inconnu du lac (Stranger by the Lake) in 2013 (Best Director Award in Un Certain Regard), and now he's back in Cannes, in competition for the Palme d’or. Alain Guiraudie presents Rester Vertical (Staying Vertical), his fifth feature film, as natural and sexual as ever.
Léo is a filmmaker, who has set out to find a wolf. Marie is a shepherdess, free-spirited and dynamic. These two young people fall in love in the heart of the Lozère region, and what could have been a happy event turns into a fiasco. A baby is born, Marie becomes depressed and leaves without saying a word, Léo keeps the child and struggles to find inspiration.
Rester vertical (Staying Vertical)… and staying with the theme of sexuality. Alain Guiraudie declares: "My films have always revolved around sexuality, and as for a lot of us, it fascinates me as much as it frightens me. This is actually what makes it so interesting! What matters to me is that it is neither serious nor solemn."
The highlight of his questioning: L’Inconnu du lac (Stranger by the Lake), a dark thriller that turns into a nightmare. The relationships are passionate, lewd and mundane. The aim of the film is not to be provocative, even if some people think it is. The sex scenes serve the story, they translate the intensity of feelings, and nourish the complexity of the relationships, between fascination and mistrust. It is above all a story of characters who remain desperately lonely, despite the bonds they create.
Three years later, and Guiraudie turns dreams into reality. Rester vertical (Staying Vertical) adopts the style of fairy tales, dreams and nightmares, near-fantasy. Despite this, the film does not lose sight of what is happening in the news. Surrogate motherhood, assisted suicide, questions related to gender. The director nevertheless refuses morality and theory. He questions himself, he questions us but above all, he tries to reinvent reality.
