This beautiful film by Sébastien Tulard has just been released, which is inspired by the real case of a young black man in France who had to fight against all prejudices and today is a master pastry chef.
An alcoholic mother who took advantage of public assistance, the foolish and indifferent director of the asylum, the bad habits of her classmates, and on top of that the dark skin, the little Frenchman Yazid Ichemrahen He seemed to have everything against him.
But he also had good adoptive parents, white Frenchmen, a guardian attentive to his possibilities, teachers who knew how to guide him, a successful and aspirational mentor who was not entirely white either, and, particularly, he had talent, discipline, tenacity, humility and self-demand. Dedicated to pastry, today Ichemrahen He is one of the most prestigious representatives of France in the field, and an example to follow for many young people like him. That’s what the biopic is about. “Sugar and stars”which premiered this week.
Let’s clarify, cinema is cinema, the film is said to be inspired by the author’s own autobiography. Yazid but it takes its liberties, softens some things and lightens others. Inspired is the right word. He also takes some style whims, making realistic scenes of the boy’s difficult life coexist with others from an American-style contest and occasional tastes of advertising cinema, such as slow motion and exquisite shots of the elements that are being cooked.
Scenes of childhood, adolescence and early youth also coexist and alternate, which may confuse some spectators distracted by their popcorn, who will consequently miss out on learning how to make a Paris Brest cake. In short, history is appreciated and followed with sympathy. Director, Sebastien Tulardanother who was born poor and improved thanks to a profession.
There is something else, which is interesting. Expression of the new France, the character is the son of North Africans, his interpreter, Riadh Belaicheis an Algerian immigrant consecrated as influencer of the year 2022 (and a good actor, from what we can see); the boy who does the childhood scenes, Maiwam Ameikerdescends from sub-Saharans, the same as the producer Laurence Lascarywho has made blackness a flag, with works such as “Paris is black” and “Ernest Cole: Lost and Found”from Haitian Raoul Peckbiopic of the South African photographer who denounced apartheid in the ’60s, and thus much of the crew and cast.
An extreme case, the actress Loubna AbidarMoroccan, daughter of an Arab woman and a Berber, at the age of 17 she married a 61-year-old French Jew so she could study in Europe, and she now lives there with a Brazilian. Her daughter is French with full rights (and dark skin).
“Sugar and stars” (“A la belle étoile”, France, 2023); Dir.: Sébastien Tulard; Int.: Riadh Belaiche, Louba Avidar, Marwin Ameiker.
Source: Ambito
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