52′, directed by Gautier Isambert.
Co-produced by France Télévisions and Images de Provence.
With the support of the city of Saint-Rémy-de-Provence.
Long before the tourists storm one of the most charming markets in Provence, fairground vendors, craftsmen, shopkeepers, everyone is busy offering the shoppers a colorful show.
The main organizer is Alain Vidal, who has been an usher for 12 years and, as such, holds considerable power. Charming and loud-mouthed, he doesn’t let himself be impressed by anyone and authoritatively distributes the few available seats to the overflowing fairground people who have been given the evocative title of “passengers”.
Through his journey and the situations he reveals, the film aims to reveal the other side of the stage and to show that behind the “postcard” another theater is playing out: that of power relationships, precariousness and power. The character of the salesman is the perfect incarnation, mixing in a very effective way the two dimensions of this representation: on the one hand what is visible and feeds the fantasy (the faconde, the humor, the gestures, the accent…), relayed by the spectacle given by the market itself (the light, the colors, the smells…); on the other hand, what a simple passer-by does not suspect: the device of power implemented by the salesman so that the market functions like a well-oiled cog.
Diving into the heart of the Saint-Rémy-de-Provence market, this film goes behind the scenes of an event that attracts thousands of tourists from all over the world every Wednesday…