The Fourth Wall: A beautiful film about utopia (review)

David Oelhoffen skillfully adapts Sorj Chalandon’s book which delves into Lebanon in 1982, with a remarkable composition by Laurent Lafitte in the central role

Initially, there is a book by journalist and writer Sorj Chalandon, awarded the Goncourt des Lycéens in 2013, already adapted into comics and numerous times for the theater but never for the cinema before David Oelhoffen (Far from men) decides to seize it. Set in 1982, its story features a French theater director who, to respect a promise made to an old friend prevented by a serious illness, goes to Beirut to finalize the project in which he had committed himself. Stage Antigone in Beirut with a cast mixing actors from different religious faiths, who coexist as best they can and rather poorly than well in the Lebanese capital. Can art create peace and bring together individuals from seemingly irreconcilable communities? The Fourth Wall taking place right before the 1982 war and the invasion of southern Lebanon by the Israeli army which resulted in the death of 20,000 Lebanese and Palestinians, we unfortunately have the answer. But this is precisely what makes Fourth wall a great and beautiful film about utopia, through this permanent clash between sincerely idealistic ideas and tragically cruel reality. With as a symbol of all this, this director who is fully committed to this project but who immediately admits that he understands nothing about what is happening in this country, about these divisions that even the locals recognize their inability to explain to him. In this role, Laurent Lafitte finds the right tone in a restrained composition which nevertheless never prevents us from reading everything that goes through his head and heart: enthusiasm, despondency then the fear of it. leave the skin. And The Fourth Wallalthough filmed two years ago, obviously resonates strongly with the tragic and murderous events that Lebanon has recently experienced.

By David Oelhoffen With Laurent Lafitte, Simon Abkarian, Manal Issa… Duration 1h56. Released January 15, 2025