Director and screenwriter Jean-Patrick Benes, to whom we owe the series Kabul Cuisine with Simon Abkarian or even Nero with Pio Marmai signs a comedy here The meaning of family. Released in 2021, the feature film reunites Alexandra Lamy and Franck Dubosc, already on-screen co-stars. All worthwhile.
The film follows the Morels family, parents of three children, whose lives change during an amusement park vacation. As a result of an unexplained phenomenon, their souls are transferred to the bodies of other family members. Then the roles continue to change, plunging the family into a chaotic daily life where each must learn to live in the other’s shoes.
This comedy is based on the concept of “body swapping”. This process, very popular in comic films, puts the hero in the place of another.
If films such as In the skin of a blonde (1991), 17 years old again (2009) or French production Didier (1997) and others. One in the other (2017), this usually only affects a couple of characters. Jean-Patrick Benes decided to toughen the task by applying this mechanism to the entire Morel family.
How did the director organize himself?
In addition to the comic spring, the director wanted to explore the theme of family, as he emphasizes in the press kit: “Obviously, everyone discovers the other (and even others), but this is not the only theme of the feature film. We mostly talk about family, couples, education and all the frustrations and disappointments that can come with them.”
Implementation this “body swap” concept presented a technical and narrative challengeboth for the team and for the spectator. To ensure complete clarity, Jean-Patrick Benes set precise guidelines: “It was necessary that in every scene, in every situation, the audience immediately understood who was who!”
To make identification easier, the director created a certain vocabulary: each character addresses each other with words such as “dad,” “mama,” or “Chacha.” In addition to the dialogue, the work on the behavior of family members played a decisive role: “Each character defines or reveals himself by his behavior,” explains the director. Your task is not to lose the thread!
Actors of the feature film “Feeling of Family”.
© Thibault GRABHERR – © Karé Productions / Gaumont / M6 Films / France 2 Cinéma / Umedia