It opened the quota for French cinema in the 33 Screening of the film in Valencia L'Enkas, director Sarah Marx's debut feature, a blunt portrait of the French youth that was represented in the figure of Ulysses, a boy who gets out of prison and must take care of his mother who suffers from severe depression. Given this situation, The easiest way out for Ulysses is to return to the habits that led him to be locked up.. Thus, starts a business selling ketamine with another trafficker. Lack of life expectations, The violence of life on the street and the difficult economic conditions in which Ulysses must operate will lead him to make a whole series of decisions destined to fail..
In the words of its director, The journey of this Ulysses takes us back to that of the character in The Odyssey, a journey of a man who, as in the classic, seeks “a safe harbor.” Out of jail, Ulysses encounters new walls that he will have to overcome. But those walls may be higher than the prison walls. They are not seen, but they feel. “The film presents the situation of Ulysses who leaves prison and, therefore, comes out of confinement, and he actually encounters another confinement, which is his mother's depression.. It is the passage from childhood to adulthood, when one becomes the father of his parents, as well as the assumption of that responsibility.”
For Sarah Marx, her film is limited to her personal world, a work that is based on his experience in previous works that served as a basis for the documentation and creation of the characters. “Before this film I was working on a documentary in prison where I followed prisoners for eight months. The doctor in the film is a real doctor who is head of psychiatry at the Saint Antoine hospital and with whom I was collaborating; I was in interviews, also seeing follow-up with patients with chronic depression who take ketamine. That's my first reference, the people I know”, commented the director.
Shot with a budget of €850,000, the film faced, first of all, to the suspicion of an industry that, as happens in Spain, She is more comfortable producing comedies than this type of social drama where the heroes are not so clear.. But Marx had no doubts about it: the heroes are its two protagonists, destined to survive in this hostile environment that is our contemporary societies. Financed with independent means, the film encountered multiple obstacles, even, during filming. “There was a moment when I thought that the film was not going to be finished because I lost financing of €300,000 when I had 22 days of filming and there were just a few days left to film a scene that takes place at a music festival that we were going to film in Ukraine. In the end, What we did was shoot it at a real electronic music festival. Y, in fact, “This scene is shot as if it were a documentary.”. These obstacles, however, more than an impediment, They were an added incentive for the director “I love that, the adrenaline of filming a documentary, “I feel the same urgency as the characters in the film.”, commented.
The Enkas enters, So, on several major issues. The first of them has to do with the sordid world of drug sales and consumption that the film wants to portray.. In fact, The very title of the film already refers to this conflict., by changing the letter “c” of the term “encas” (refreshment, food between hours), for a k, the “K” of ketamine sold and consumed by its protagonists, Ulysses as a business and form of recreation and his mother as a medicinal remedy for his chronic illness. “The idea arose immediately because what I wanted was to tell the story of Ulysses and his mother with depression.. Then, Through my relationship with the head of psychiatry at the Saint Antoine hospital, I became very interested in this ambiguity of the substance as a poison and as an antidote at the same time.. A molecule that, as the movie says, "It serves to make animals sleep and is used by young people to play with what life can offer them and at the same time to awaken emotions in people with chronic depression.".
But beyond what the surface shows, L'Enkas proposes a reflection on class differences in contemporary France. “It is that this class difference exists. In fact, Gabrielle and her son Ulysses could be said to be middle class, But the middle class in France today lives with many difficulties and cannot make ends meet.. and there are many, many Gabrielle and many Ulysses in France. Many more than those who have a comfortable and easy life”, the director commented to the media. “There is a real problem in France at the moment which is this aging population, sick, and the fact that children must assume the responsibilities of caring for their parents, and they have no solution. As it is said in the movie, Having a caregiver can cost €3,000 a month or placing the mother in a residence can cost between 3 and €5,000 per month, The apartments are also small and do not allow people to stay., It's a problem.". Despite the difficulties posed, Marx never considered an alternative solution that would alleviate the viewer's expectations.. “There was no alternative ending. It was the one that had to be. Ulysses leaves prison and what he finds are doors that close before him, a violent world, perhaps more violent than the one inside the prison. What I have seen is that French prisons are full of kids like that, not big criminals, but of young guys who need to earn some money, that they have responsibilities that they would need to assume and that the only way out is the interprofessional minimum wage. But the film is a chronicle that takes place over ten days, maybe in ten years, “Ulysses is in a different situation.”
Showing a no less harsh reality, but in a comedy tone, the film by Macedonian director Gjorce Stavreski was presented. They will enter secretly tells us the extravagant story of Vele, another young man like Ulysses who has to take care of his father who is sick with cancer. Like Marx's character, Vele cannot pay for the treatment to alleviate his father's pain. He will find the solution in a shipment of drugs that is appropriated by some gangsters.. Vele begins to supply doses of marijuana to his father in the form of cakes that he prepares for him. Miraculously, his father begins to improve. And we already have the mess set up.
They will enter secretly It is the first film co-production between Macedonia and Greece, a historical event in cinema that, couple Dragica Nikolovska, still photo and production manager of the film, It is a unique occasion given the political differences that exist between the two countries. “I hope this opens new doors for this type of collaboration between the two countries.”, especially in favor of Macedonia, which is a small country with fewer opportunities to do this type of collaboration”, commented Nikolovska.
Like in L'Enkas, They will enter secretly It is an opportunity to address different issues that affect the social reality of the country., What are the economic conditions in which a good part of the population lives?, fact that is perceived, For example, in the protagonists' home. "In fact, it's worse. It is true that there are few people who live much better, but the apartment we chose for filming was as seen on the screen. We don't change anything. Many people in my country live below the poverty line, living with the basics. This has pushed people to look for alternative solutions to their problems., especially, just as the movie reflects, when it comes to health. “In Macedonia alternative therapies are successful because the health system is broken. There are private hospitals that are flourishing, but only for people who can afford it financially. And also the healers are flourishing. And because you have a little hope you think that the water is going to cure you.”, commented Nikolovska.
They will enter secretly has received strong support from the Macedonian public, as well as the recognition of different international festivals, fact that allowed her to be worthy of representing her country to compete for the next Hollywood Oscars. “The film has been well received in Macedonia. has done 24.000 spectators, which is a large amount for Macedonia which is a very small country. This year there were six candidates for the Oscars and our film had been chosen. We have been to many international festivals and have won many awards, and this is the reason why they have chosen it. Everything in Macedonia is politicized. Neither the previous nor the current government likes the film because of the criticism they make of our health system., “But the film could be made thanks to independent financing.”. G.LEON
