Ladj Ly knows that we are waiting for him around the corner afterwards Wretched, awarded at Cannes and the Césars. For Building 5, his second feature film as director, he returns to Montfermeil, his town of origin, with a new, bleak situation. “My co-writer Giordano Gederlini and I talk about Montfermeil, but what we describe corresponds to many other towns,” he confides to 20 minutes. Things have not improved. They have even gotten worse, but there is still hope. »
A young woman discovers the redevelopment plan for her neighborhood which involves the destruction of the famous building 5 of the title, which she will try to save by opposing the municipality led by an ambitious mayor played by Alexis Manenti, discovered in Wretched. “Our energy is positive but it comes from anger,” insists screenwriter Giordano Gederlini who also co-wrote Ladj Ly’s previous film. When someone like him directs, his experience permeates the screen and so does his knowledge of the field. » Building 5 is the one in which the director once lived.
Beautiful cinema carried by a brilliant actress
The niac that was the strength of Miserable is still there with strong characters like this heroine played by the luminous Anta Diaw, discovered in The Young Imam by Kim Chapiron. “She vibrates with humanity,” explains Ladj Ly. She is moving, she is resistant. She is the embodiment of the story we wanted to tell. » The injustices suffered by residents forced to leave their homes offer powerful moments of very beautiful cinema.
“There is not only a political discourse in the film,” explains Giordano Gederlini. We want to show the lives of people who are too little represented in French cinema, but the film has nothing communitarian about it. It is, above all, cinema. » The strength of the story comes from the profoundly realistic side of a work broader than Wretched, where real inhabitants of Montfermeil agreed to act as extras.
True or almost
“Everything is true,” says Ladj Ly. The only thing we invented was the attack at the mayor’s house. On this point, we got ahead of the news: this type of attack really took place later at the L’Haÿ-les-Roses home. » Building 5 does not at any time try to be pleasant or friendly. Ladj Ly continues to bully the public to make them aware of a painful reality. And it’s not over. Giordano Gederlini and he are already thinking about writing what will be the third part of a trilogy.