I am Night at Noonday

Gated communities are burgeoning in Marseille, a sign of turning-inwards, of keeping to one’s own kind. We might dream of confronting this madness with that of Don Quixote. What if he had the idea, accompanied by his faithful squire as always, of crossing this stolen city in a chivalric gesture that restored its imaginaries?

Don Quichotte, enamoured of his desire to change the world, decides to travel through Marseille from south to north. Accompanied by Sancho installed on his motorcycle, Don Quichotte rides his horse along the sideroads of this segregated city with its seemingly impassable gates. An extraordinary mad knight from another age and surely from another world. Practical for passing not only through the gates of the private roads built in the south to reassure the bourgeoisie, but also the raised barriers in the north that control entry to drug dealing turfs and other deal spots. The doors of one and all: at first, this closure of the world seems to be widespread within the polarised city. And with this separation of the world as their guiding question, Don Quichotte and Sancho brave the city. Armed with a madness capable of brilliantly impacting reality, they trigger situations that unite and lead them towards people. Following the group instinct and entering through each open door, the two companions press on to increasingly deep relationships. This is where the film accomplishes its movement: without attempting to resolve the paradoxes encountered by its characters, it enables the city, even if doors are closed, to say yes to everything. At the end of the road, we may not know much more about Marseille, the cradle of contrasts and contradictions, but penetrating the city with this audacious project fills the intimate yawning gaps and puts together a full and unified film. 

Clémence Arrivé Guezengar