THE PREMIERE SCREENING OF THE FILM “THE TIME OF SECRETS” IN THE WORLD’S OLDEST CINEMA: EDEN

Before the release of the film scheduled for March 16, in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, then on March 23 nationwide, the inhabitants of La Ciotat had the chance to discover, in preview, the screening of the film “Le temps des secrets” directed by Christophe BARRATIER and adapted from the eponymous autobiographical novel by Marcel PAGNOL.
Christophe BARRATIER, director of the film Les Choristes which met with immense success with the public when it was released in 2004, came to present his new film last night at L’Eden, accompanied by three of his young performers: Marcel (Léo CAMPION) , Lilli (Baptiste NEGREL) and Isabelle (Lucie LOSTE-BERCET). Announced, the arrival of the grandson of PAGNOL, suffering, had to be canceled.

It was a very special preview, because it didn’t take place in just any cinema but… in the oldest cinema!
EDEN, the oldest cinema in the world, was built in La Ciotat in 1889. Initially intended to be a performance hall, in 1895 EDEN hosted a cinematographic experience in the presence of around fifty ciotadens. Then, the first public cinema screening at L’EDEN took place, almost 123 years ago, on March 21, 1899 with the mythical “The launch of a boat at La Ciotat”.

Yesterday evening, the public crowded into this 220-seat room to discover the adaptation of this third PAGNOL opus. Marseilles: 1905. The young Marcel PAGNOL has just completed his primary studies. In three months he will enter sixth grade, high school… but it’s vacation time, the real ones, the big ones!
Here he is back, with his family, in his beloved hills of Aubagne and Allauch, located just a few kilometers from Marseilles and love and friendship are present in this omnipresent nature at a time when The hills were still a huge playground for the children. During this summer, full of promise, the sun shines and the cicadas sing.

More than 30 years after the first two parts of the trilogy written by Marcel PAGNOL, My Father’s Glory and My Mother’s Castle brought to the screen by the recently deceased director Yves ROBERT, the cast has been completely renewed, which is This is explained in particular by the fact that the actors, having grown up or aged, would no longer be able to interpret their initial roles.
On this subject, Christophe BARRATIER specifies, during the exchange with the public which follows the projection, that the role of Marcel, child, required the hearing by the director of 200 to 300 children (it being specified that the casting concerned more of 2,000 candidates), because, he specifies: “A child must have the nature of the character, a child does not play”. Then, to add: “I wanted to tell a story at the height of a child”. Project supported by the producer of the film who adds: “I wanted to share the Paradise of childhood”.
The director, very marked, as a child, by his grandmother explains to the public that throughout the film he is attached to the following common thread: the search for the secret to be shared between the main protagonists. Thus a particular development is devoted to the “feminist” escape of the two sisters: Augustine and Aunt Rose.

With a great cast, including François-Xavier DEMAISON as uncle Jules, jubilant as one could wish, and children more real than life, the spectators were enchanted by the film.
During the exchange with the public following the screening, Christophe BARRATIER likes to point out that Cinema was invented in 1895, the year of birth of Marcel PAGNOL.

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Alessandra BLACHE

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