Have you ever heard of the Anti-squat law which gives its title to the film by Nicolas Silhol, director of Corporate (2016)? It allows people who benefit from it to pay a reduced rent to occupy empty premises. But the conditions are drastic. Residents can be evicted during the winter break, are not allowed to bring children, animals and more than two guests to the premises. They are prohibited from expressing themselves in the media and from being absent for more than two days without authorisation. Louise Bourgoin plays a single, penniless mother who agrees to enforce these rules in the hope of surviving with her teenage son.
“With Fanny Burdino, my co-screenwriter, we found that this principle told something of our time, says the director Nicolas Filhol: the restriction of freedoms, voluntary servitude and, faced with these abuses, the temptation of revolt. This activist filmmaker heightens the suspense around a heroine quickly torn between her own interests and those of the residents. This process of preventing uninhabited places from being occupied by squatters quickly reveals how unfair it can be.
Precarious people who exploit others
There are many temptations to cheat, including from the manager who discreetly installs her son on the site. Like the people she watches over, she is a working poor whose income is not enough for housing. “It was important to show that the precarious are also people who have a job,” insists Nicolas Filhol. He offers Louise Bourgoin the role of a strong woman constrained to harshness by adversity. This complex character, often touching and sometimes hateful, finds his place in a society that is increasingly harsh for ordinary people.
“My intention was to give this vision of a world where motivated, flexible and precarious workers exploit other motivated, flexible and precarious workers in an unidentified suburban area”, specifies the filmmaker. If his film is hard, it fascinates as the relationships between the protagonists never fall into caricature. anti squat is not just a rant: it is also a very good film carried by an actress that we would like to see more often.