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Les cheveux coupés
“Sit up straight... careful... yes, like that.” In Emmanuel Marre’s vérité film, not the filmmaker or his camcorder dictate the mise-en-scène, but an alternating montage of Brussels-based parents styling their children’s hair with whatever they have at hand. Their direct but intimate instructions and the bathrooms, kitchens and living rooms that function as ephemeral hair salons sculpt the decor, rhythm, and imagery.
A mother cuts her panicking son’s hair with kitchen scissors. A father shaves a mohawk with clippers and quiet devotion. A daughter twitches in pain as a coarse brush rakes roughly into her frizzy hair. Meanwhile, cultural differences are revealed through the created hairstyles and the pathways taken to get there.
Marre’s frames feel their way into the small spaces he co-inhabits. He is a fly on the wall, but not invisible. He adapts where necessary and isn’t bothered by sound equipment or his own shadow in the frame. The children, forced to sit still and yet unaware of the behavioural rules imposed by a film shoot, acknowledge the lens staring at them. A special triad emerges between them, the maker, and the moment they share together.