In the world of fast-paced industrialization, is there time for leisure? If so, where does one go for seeking leisure? A cinema hall, or a park. The core of Beating Sun (Tant que le soleil frappe) – the assured new film by Philippe Petit – asks these questions indirectly, and suggests in a glaring character study of a landscape artist, the fight for a space that could be used for urban tranquility- as he describes “to stop the rhythm of the city.”
Max (Swann Arlaud) is consumed by his passion project of ideation and creating an entire garden on the makeshift property in Marseille that is surrounded by the rush of traffic and sky-high buildings. He is adamant about it, with his partner Gaspard (Pascal Rénéric). The idea has even reached the final stage of a revered architecture competition, with Max betting on it as a sign that the stars will align if they win it.
They present their concept to the selection committee, where Max’s passion bleeds through the customary details of the project alone. But the stars do not align so easily for Max when they do not get selected and Gaspard is left feeling stuck- unsure whether their project will take shape.”…two and a half projects in three years. Do you think we’re making any progress? Let’s face it” he says and leaves the partnership.
Back home, Max has to make things work for his freelance journalist wife (Sarah Adler) and daughter. He hangs on to what one of the jury members, Paul Moudenc (Grégoire Oestermann) says that he likes his radical idea of his and would see if he could do anything for that matter. Tragedy strikes midway with a death of a local skateboarder who falls in the hole. Max must keep an eye on Paul too who gives him reassurances and in turn, offers him a project to create an outdoor space for a lounge bar, built for former footballer Djibril Cissé (playing himself here.)
With so much story to tell, Beating Sun could have easily felt burdened by its own obstinacy. Yet, Petit keeps the proceedings tightly wound, delving into the obstinacy of the protagonist from a distance. Even if we are aware of how seriously he takes the project, almost irrational in his quest for urban renewal, Max himself is not. His enthusiasm slowly turns into frustration, and Beating Sun builds this trajectory with utmost care and attention. Beating Sun starkly shows the fate of such idealism in a largely economical world where the bigger powers spare no one.
Perhaps what Max has to fight is his own ignorance of the reality he wants to imagine differently. With his personal life steadily falling apart, the passion that keeps him going also blinds him.
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Beating Sun is swift and engaging, aided by a stellar screenplay by Laurette Polmanss, Mathieu Robin, Marcia Romano, and Petit himself. The short intercutting sequences following Max in his household offer just the right amount of heart in tracing the character’s turmoil that seethes into his personal life. The script never becomes preachy or derives pleasure in long, dramatic monologues showing frustration. It is all present in the way they deal with the chance of fate, and then get on with it as usual. Another thumbs up are for Valentin Féron’s superb editing, holding on just enough to remain consistently engaging.
Arlaud is superb at the center of Beating Sun. He underplays the growing rage and frustration with great insight, steadily grounding his character’s turmoil in the way he uses his physicality. Watch out for the scene quite early in Beating Sun, when Max realizes that Gaspard is leaving the partnership. He is fully aware of the fate of the precariousness of handling it alone and what it might take but keeps it mostly to himself. He also shares great chemistry with Adler – in one of the lighter scenes, he dances with her after a tough day. Ostermann is adequately civil as the man who knows how to survive in the field and keeps Max on his fingertip.
Beating Sun asks important questions about modern consumerism, but never favors one side in space of another. What Petit does so brilliantly is unwrapped the cover of landed gentry and hold it for a better look at all the dirt that lurks within. We learn through Max, but does Max learn? There are no villains in the game, no antagonists, only survivors who know what works best. It comes at the cost of conscience once in a while, but so be it. One has to compromise after all.
★★★★
Beating Sun (2022) | Movie Clip
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0h_KKjYn6ME
