Emilie Muller
1994 · 20m · France
Directed by Yvon Marciano
Tones: melancholic, tender, whimsical
A young woman auditions for a film role at the last minute; the director asks her to describe the contents of her handbag, and what begins as a simple exercise unfolds into an unexpectedly intimate self-revelation.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
Veronika Varga holds the frame for twenty minutes armed with nothing but a handbag, and Marciano trusts her completely — that level of formal confidence in a short is rare.
Twenty minutes of one woman describing her handbag at an audition. The Kiarostami comp earns its keep — this is a real film, and the constraint is what makes it cinema.
Almost the entire 20 minutes is one woman speaking to an off-screen director about the contents of her handbag — that's an audition-film masterclass and the Varda / Kiarostami lineage is exactly where it belongs. A perfectly proportioned chamber piece.
Festivals
- Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival 1994
- London Film Festival 1994, Best Short Film
- César Awards 1995, Nominated — Best Short Film