Édouard Louis, ou la transformation

The Many Lives of Edouard Louis

François Caillat
France | 2022 | 72 min
Swiss Premiere
Language : French
Subtitle : English

Born into a working-class family and now a literary sensation, Édouard Louis recounts his condition as a class defector, the discomfort of being neither wholly on one side nor the other, but also the possibility of transformation. By accompanying him around his childhood haunts, the filmmaker gives us access to a rich and fascinating body of thought, inviting us all to embrace change.

Born into a working-class family in the north of France and now a literary sensation, Édouard Louis has written ceaselessly about the relationship between the margins and the norm. Drawing on his dual experiences as a class defector and a gay man, he relates the construction of the self through feelings of shame – "ashamed of being poor, ashamed of being gay" – but also, and above all, the possibility of transformation, of becoming whoever you want to be. In following the young writer to Amiens – the scene of his coming of age and his first "transformation" – and giving free rein to his words, filmmaker François Caillat's camera gives us a glimpse of free and uncompromising thought in action. It is through the memory of places and reminiscences that personal anecdotes emerge, forming the starting point for a broader reflection on our relationship with the world, ourselves and others. A reflection on the politics of intimacy, its place in the collective, and an impassioned invitation to change, addressed to everyone.

Mourad-Anis Moussa

Édouard Louis, ou la transformation, 2022
Foucault contre lui-même, 2014
Une jeunesse amoureuse, 2013
Bienvenue à Bataville, 2008
La Quatrième génération, 1997