La mif réal par Fred Baillif (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: La mif réal par Fred Baillif Tiffany Bailey Baillif, Fred, réal. La mif. Int. Claudia Grob, Kassia Da Costa, Joyce Esther Ndayisenga, Charlie Areddy. Freshprod, 2021. At what point do friends become family? Can this quasi-familial bond be just as strong and genuine as a blood-related family unit? La mif (2021) explores these questions. During a vulnerable scene where the teenage girls living in a Swiss girls’ home sit around a fire and each share something truthful, they explain to their director that “la mif” is slang for “famille” en verlan. While other films centering girls in social care (i.e., Girl interrupted (1999), 3 x Manon (2014)) show violent, antisocial teens and rigid caregivers, La mif is more positive, with the girls and employees taking care of each other (without minimizing their struggles). The film starts by dropping the viewer into a chaotic, heated scene in which multiple female voices are yelling and one rises above the rest, shouting “lâchemoi!” and “ne me touche pas!” It is dark in the house and the audience cannot tell what is happening, but eventually one of the girls is forcibly removed. The next shot cuts to daytime in a greenhouse garden, which is more calm, but the teens do not seem enthusiastic about helping. This nonchalant and bored attitude is generally typical of teenagers and could be expected in a film focused on adolescents. What we do not know, however, is how much time has passed since the screaming incident. The audience has not been formally introduced to any characters so we cannot track how they may have changed across time. Throughout the rest of the film, the concept of time is confusing almost to the point of incomprehension (but not quite). The careful placement of repeated scenes (the nighttime screaming, for example) helps the viewer situate themselves and continue to follow the story. The film is divided into achronological episodes that are mostly titled with each girl’s name (Audrey, Novinha, Précieuse, Justine, Tamra, Alison, and Caroline). Though there may be multiple girls present in an episode, the viewer really comes to understand each individual, why she lives in the house, and her relationships with people in and outside of the house in her own episode. Molding the girls are young love, difficult home situations, and even tragedy. The connections between the characters are like intersecting points in a web: organized chaos. Each girl started out with a family (not all of them terrible), but ultimately felt more connected and at ease with their found family, la mif. The fam loses members along the way as characters leave for a variety of reasons. However, the film ends with Zoé, an infant, crying as a social worker drops her off at the house. In this way, the film ends just as it had begun: screaming. The older girls are quiet this time, perhaps reflecting on their maturity or the new, young member of the [End Page 185] fam. Zoé represents the new generation. There will always be girls who need the home, and they will always come and go. This reality feels touching and a bit daunting. [End Page 186] Tiffany Bailey Boston University (MA) Copyright © 2023 American Association of Teachers of French