This comedy has already broken a record: that of the fastest “made” feature film. While it usually takes a year between the start of a film and its release, “At the same time”, shot in December, will be in theaters on Wednesday April 6. “We wanted a small voice, ours, to speak regarding ecology and feminism before Macron was re-elected”, argues Gustave Kervern. The editing therefore began as soon as the shots were taken, which took place in Albi (Tarn), almost entirely at night. And for good reason. The comedy recounts the nocturnal wanderings of two mayors, one green, the other “various extreme center”, glued to each other by a feminist activist.
To imagine this wacky scenario, Gustave Kervern and Benoît Delépine were inspired by the Belgian “pieters” who succeeded Noel Godin and by their friend the actor Robert de Houx, who “had blocked the financial center of Brussels by sticking matches in the locks of the banks”.
“After the Covid, where people were holed up like wolves, a subject was needed that was sufficiently electrocuting to make you want to go to the cinema”, explains Benoît Delépine. The pillars of “Groland” and directors of « Mammuth »“The Great Evening” or “ Clear history » then looked for two actors capable of taking up the challenge of playing close together.
“We wanted to laugh, but by passing on our convictions”
It was on leaving the Cesars ceremony on March 12, 2021, on the sidewalk, that they found their elected officials. “We ended up with all the losers, remembers Delépine. Vincent Macaigne and Jonathan Cohen, whom we adored in night doctor and Terrible jungle, came to us. We mightn’t refuse these signs from heaven! In fact, Cohen is laughable as a homophobic, meaty and corrupt macho, just like Macaigne as a hypochondriac, anxious and uncompromising ecologist. Surrounded by tasty supporting roles, the duo is served by brilliant dialogues (“Before, only gym teachers voted for the right. Now it’s all the teachers, even the plastic arts teachers”, “C is the world that has only one barrette left”…).
But “At the same time” is not just a big joke: it also carries environmental and feminist messages. “I lived in Mauritius so I saw the ravages of environmental non-decisions, explains Gustave Kervern. In sixty years, this earthly paradise has become a desert: there are no more shells, no sea urchins, very few fish. The director will also vote for Yannick Jadot this Sunday, even if he would dream of more drastic ecological measures. Benoît Delépine, he still hesitates and regrets the absence in the first round of Sandrine Rousseau, who would have “shaken the coconut tree”.
As far as feminism is concerned, the filmmakers applauded the MeToo movement, but felt that there was “a lot of progress to be made”. ” Putin is a typical example of the impasse of patriarchy, argues Delépine. It behaves like a kind of giant phallus which stands up and decides on its own to crush a people to show that it is the strongest. »
When asked what their first measures would be at the Élysée, the filmmakers list, pell-mell, compulsory voting, a limitation of fortunes to 1 billion euros, a maximum of two pairs of sneakers per young person, the car without a license mandatory and water and electricity restriction measures… “We shouldn’t be pushed! laughs Delépine.
The film ends with a series of statistics: “73% of women victims of online aggression”, “Another 125 feminicides this year”, “One in three women victim of sexual violence”… “We wanted to laugh, but conveying our convictions, without being cynical or nihilistic,” notes Benoît Delépine. Who signs with his accomplice a funny and committed film… at the same time.
« At the same time », French comedy by Gustave Kervern and Benoît Delépine. With Vincent Macaigne, Jonathan Cohen, India Hair, Jehnny Beth… 1h48.
