[critical] THE ROAD WITHIN

Présenté first in France in the Champs-Elysées Film Festival (from 10 to 16 June), THE ROAD WITHIN his gaze on the mental illness, and mainly on the syndrome of Gilles de la Tourette syndrome. A disease causing a majority of the tics, and more rarely obscenities uncontrollable. A subject dared to the director Gren Wells. This is proof with his first film of master and convinces ample in its treatment, and its ability to move. A very personal film for the young woman who soufra in his youth anorexia and bulimia, and had to deal with the depression of his mother. A series of built-in elements also in the film. A difficult context, but that does not make THE ROAD WITHIN depressing, on the contrary. Gren Wells makes us travel with humour and emotion at the heart of the world surprise, and gives us a nice road movie for the freaks !

Vincent (Robert Sheehan) syndrome de la Tourette. He has just lost his mother and finds himself face to his father with whom he has been cold for some time. The latter, fearing that his son to compromise his political career, he sends Vincent to a clinic that specializes. On the spot, the young man makes the acquaintance of Marie (Zoë Kravitz), a young anorexic whose he falls in love. Together, they decide to flee, resulting in spite of them, Alex (Dev Patel), the roommate of Vincent, who suffers from OCD. The trio embarks then on a journey unforgettable, the purpose of which is to spread the ashes of the mother of Vincent in the ocean.

As she explained during a Q&A, a question and answer session, held after the presentation of his film at the cinema Le Balzac, Wednesday, June 10, usually, the films dealing with the illness of Tourette’s syndrome fall ” in mockery or drama heavy. “. With THE ROAD WITHIN, Gren Wells is not seeking to inform us about the disease, its origin, or on the possible treatment, but immerses us in the simple everyday life of three patients. Three young people who must cope with their condition, their illness and the relationship to the other that this includes. It is then the evolution of the relationships between the characters that becomes essential. A group of amazing, consisting of Vincent, suffers from Tourette syndrome, Marie, anorexic, and Alex, who suffers from OCD. If their cohabitation proves to be chaotic at first, the solidarity is touching, then moves into place. We feel, moreover, in the display of a particular complicity between the three excellent actors who interpret them. Robert Sheehan, discovered in the british series Misfits, is always so amazing and fascinating. Dev Patel to show a lot of depth and reveals emotions little seen in him so far, despite its many good roles on television in Skins, and Newsroom, the film Slumdog Millionaire and Chappie). Finally, Zoë Kravitz seems to have turned a corner this year. Capable of standing up to Ethan Hawke or Tom Hardy (Good Kill , and Mad Max Fury Road), it is assigned a role here as extreme and hard. The young girl, who throughout the film seems to be detached from everything, hiding a dramatic reality, burst onto the screen.

“A beautiful road movie at the freaks !”

Despite all THE ROAD WITHIN has these slight defects of a first film. It is a pity with this topic to see Gren Wells fall into slight cliché, bringing the secondary characters into boxes, sometimes too obvious. However the director manages to capture the magic of the moment. Placing the frame of his camera always wise to provide some plans and sequences sublime. Wells does not crush by his subject and manages to make you laugh in a smart way. Because the humor comes from the characters themselves. Each with awareness of his condition and that of others, they know how to make proof of self-deprecating humor. An asset to the comic genius that never falls into mockery. THE ROAD WITHIN alternates with ease between comedy and drama, and causes a strong empathy for the sympathetic characters are constantly in suffering. Gren Wells bears witness to a difficult life, sometimes sad, but still full of hope.

THE ROAD WITHIN is presented in competition at the Champs-Élysées film Festival edition 2015.