Nocturnes

Every week, the Vincennes racecourse—whose evening events manifestly attract scant crowds—becomes the kingdom of a handful of young men filmed by Matthieu Bareyre over the course of eighteen months. “I’m watching my filly fly!”: in the night’s cinegenic splendour and the furrow of equine swiftness, Mehdi, Jimmy, Safir and Kader reign over this deserted venue. Integrating the hippodrome’s cameras and monitors into his images from the outset, the filmmaker sidesteps the obvious sociological theme (the idleness of some youngsters) to explore our relationship to spectacle. Given the tiny public present, the races seem to exist only as simulacrum—as the opium of those dependent on gambling. Yet, even when immersed in the depressing background music, the young men bring the space to life and forge a new freedom for themselves. The editing subtly conveys the repetitive circularity of their ritual, but tunes our eye and ear to an elation that first seems no more than escape mechanism. Between the talk about cell phone brands and the impression that the spectators get into in the horses’ skin, Nocturnes gives these weekly get-togethers a discreetly subversive form. The overexcited shouters refuse the mediocre, low-profile happiness with which the less wealthy among us are now urged to be content. (Charlotte Garson)