In Avignon, his first feature film, the actor and director Johann Dionnet uses the decor of the Cité des Papes and his illustrious festival to offer a light and sunny comedy, behind the scenes of the theater with a Grand T.
Program the release of Avignon a fortnight before the opening of the 79th edition of the festival, this is clever as the first feature film by Johann Dionnet sounds like a tourist ode to the city of the Popes and the effervescence that invades him every summer in July. For more than an hour and a half, day and night, the camera walks in the darkness of the performance halls and in the streets bathed in the pretty Provencal city. As for the plot? A clue: in short film format, Johann Dionnet had baptized his comedy I plays Rodrigue, in reference to the Cid, of Corneille. In Avignon, Stéphane (Baptiste Lecaplain) is an actor of Boulevard comedy fell under the spell of Fanny (Elisa Erka). Now her beautiful, who plays in Ruy Blas, by Victor Hugo -recalls the story of a lackey in love with a queen … -, has only ears for the classics. Following a misunderstanding, she believes that he interprets Rodrigue, he does not have the heart to deny. So here is the lover transi entangled in his lies. And he’s not the only one!
The transposition, from a short film, of a classic in contemporary comedy, was perilous. Johann Dionnet, Patrick on the screen, takes up the challenge without sketching through endearing characters (the humorist Alison Wheeler alias Coralie), or pedants at will (Amaury de Crayencour alias David), light dialogues, fun or moving scenes, often both. He gives the spectator a pass to discover behind the scenes of the festival, the challenges behind the smiles, the internal quarrels of the theater world, the energy spent in display and towing … The result is a comedy full of sun, theater, friendship. And love of course!
