"Le fils d'un roi" showcases Miss Carrion being clever with paradoxal statements ,in a sprawling movie ,the ins and outs of which remain obscure...
But trust her to take the French cinema out of its now de rigueur feel good ;after showing a farmer who was in awe of the ancient pagan religion , a tribute to the "noble" hunting , here's a film about a youngster who dreams of a return to monarchy .
In her effort about hunting " le corps sauvage" , there's a clue which might (or not) predate " le fils d'un roi" : the noblest way to hunt is hunting with hounds,par excellence the privilege of the king and his aristocraty in the Ancien Régime ....
The movie begins with a history lesson in a secondary school for vocational training : the subject is the French Revolution: the teacher is taken aback by Kevin and his pal ,who claim that 1789 was the beginning of the end for the working class ....
Why this fascination for kingship , for bygone days (the last king was overthrown in 1848) ? It may exploit the feeling that the fifth Republic has gone full circle and some people turn their back on the usual political parties ; it may also be a teenager's longing for beauty ,purity, sacred things ; it may also be the tale of a desperate boy who throws himself into his passion for history to try and take his mind off his grief :after an accident in her factory ,his mom lies on her bed ,left completely paralyzed.
There are so many subjects in a single film that sometimes, enough is enough : the values of the Republic VS a return to royalty , the compulsory education dictated by a national curriculum which reflects the prevailing ideology , the lack of social welfare ("we cannot afford a medicalized bed ,we 've got no dough"), the relationship the teachers have between them ,and their responsibility for their students' mind .As if it weren't enough ,there's cinema verite of sorts when the students interview Mr/Mrs man/woman of the street , a candid friendship between two rebellious boys who has a bad end ( one can note the sense of ellipsis of Carron who does not show both accidents : the mother's happened before the film began), emigrated people who want to combine their culture with the French one ("formerly ,one of the teachers -who herself came to France when she was still a child- says: I was told to respect and love my new country , it's now a thing of the past" )Add acting dramas performed in the nature , the Morrocan princess who urged women of her country to emancipate by taking off her veil ,after a speech ,and the Egyptian religion to boot.
By no means uninteresting ,but perhaps too ambitious for its own good :juggling so many things at once is its downfall.
The only music which is heard is a guitar-played "la marche des rois" ; it's actually,should we believe the scholars , about the Magi. And since the movie features a miracle and a visit to the cathedral of Saint Denis where the kings were burried, it may make sense ; as the king had reportedly the power to heal the poor by simply touching him , they had to be thanked after all........
The final cast and credits thank the comte de Paris, heir apparent to the throne,providing that monarchy should be restored of course .
