Picture of the movie Sibyl © Cédric Sartore
Sibyl: Virginie Efira explores the realms of psychoanalysis
Following a noteworthy appearance at Cannes in 2016 with Victoria (In Bed with Victoria), the French director Justine Triet has joined the Competition for the first time with Sibyl, a "dramedy" starring Virginie Efira, which deals with the themes of identity, roots and the creative process.
With Sibyl, Justine Triet continues the exploration of identity and roots she embarked on with her first films, La Bataille de Solférino (Age of Panic) and Victoria (In Bed with Victoria) by creating another portrait of a woman torn between her private and professional lives, her anxieties and her emotions. The director has once again teamed up with Virginie Efira, giving her the title role, three years after she played a lawyer with a tumultuous love life in Victoria (In Bed with Victoria).
This time Virginie Efira plays Sibyl, a novelist-turned-psychoanalyst. She is obsessed by the desire to write and decides to stop seeing patients, until she crosses paths with Margot, a young, troubled actress, who begs Sibyl to take her on. Sibyl is fascinated by Margot's romantic dilemma – she is pregnant by the lead actor in the film she is making, while he is in a relationship with the director – and secretly records her account of her problems. Her patient's words become a real source of inspiration, providing material for her novel and plunging her back into her past. But when Margot pleads with Sibyl to join her on Stromboli for the conclusion of filming, things speed up at a dizzying rate.
“When she begins to write again after meeting Margot, Sibyl opens up a void which draws her into a fictional frenzy, but also towards disorientation about herself and her identity.”
To play opposite Virginie Efira, Justine Triet has hired Adèle Exarchopoulos, who won the Palme d’or with Léa Seydoux and Abdellatif Kechiche when La Vie d'Adèle (Blue is the warmest colour) was shown in Competition in 2013, and Sandra Hüller, noted for her performance in Toni Erdmann. According to the director, Hüller's artistic personality is "a perfect synthesis of comedy and drama".
