The Franco-Swiss duo formed by Lauriane Escaffre and Yvo Muller is making a feature film starring Maria, a 50-year-old housekeeper who thrives working at the Beaux-Arts in Paris. “Maria rêve” is to be discovered on French-speaking screens.
After the short film “Pile poil”, awarded at the César in 2020, the French director Lauriane Escaffre and the Franco-Swiss director Yvo Muller are collaborating once more on a production, “Maria rêve”, a romantic comedy where contemporary art occupies a prominent place.
At the dawn of her 50th birthday, Maria, a discreet and curious cleaning lady (Karin Viard) is offered a new position at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Immersed in a universe whose codes she does not master, the surface technician discovers in this school teeming with budding artists the true meaning of the words “freedom” and “daring”. There she also meets Hubert (Grégory Gadebois), the caretaker and handyman of the school, from the Beaux-Arts. This somewhat boorish single fifty-year-old falls in love with her. However, Maria is married.
Another life is possible
Locked in their respective lives, Maria and Hubert will realize that another path is possible by showing courage. “Hubert is a guy who is very helpful, but who doesn’t care if he is liked or not. He helps out when he wants, if he wants to, explains Yvo Muller, interviewed by RTS. Maria will hatch thanks to Hubert , but there is also a return. Thanks to this meeting, Hubert will ask questions regarding his own life.”
>> To watch: the trailer for “Maria dream”
Art where you least expect it
The encounter between Maria and art, through the work of the students who sometimes ask her for help, also contributes to her development. She takes risks, learns to love her body. “These pieces of more or less successful works of art will move him”, adds Yvo Muller. It was important for both co-director and director to show a 50-year-old woman in a leading role, as they are underrepresented on the big screen. “In France, one in two active women is over 50. However, they only represent 8% of film roles […] These women have something to say and need to be visible, if only so that younger people have visions of women over 50 that they can relate to.”
Through their film, the duo also wishes to shed light on Maria’s profession: “Cleaning women and men are people who work in the shadows, but if they are no longer there, it’s the whole society that is having a hard time. This deliberate choice comes from my co-director and co-screenwriter Lauriane Escaffre, whose grandmother was a cleaning lady. She followed her in her work when she was young, during the summer. how her grandmother made herself invisible during her work hit her. This discretion is implicit in the function.”
Radio subject: Philippe Conguisti
Adaptation web: Myriam Semaani
“Maria rêve”, by Lauriane Escaffre and Yvo Muller, to be seen in French-speaking cinemas.
