Written and directed by Joe Weiland and Finn Constantine, following the fifteen minutes before Marion’s – France’s only female bull jumper – first performance in a packed French arena. Starring: Caroline Noguès-Larbère, Radouan Leflahi, Laurent Fernandez, Manuel Severi and Chloé Bugard.
As soon as Marion opens, you’re faced with the sublime texture that its aesthetic has to offer. There’s something utterly nostalgic yet weighty about it, it captures the importance of this moment but also the theatricality of it. The direction and cinematography (by Harry Wheeler) are consistent throughout, they’re very satisfying to watch unfold.
Especially with the way that the filmmakers use sound which amps up the tension. As well as strong editing work (by Maxime Caro and Phil Currie) and movement, which helps to add in an edge of thrill almost, feeding into the danger and risks of Marion’s (Caroline Noguès-Larbère) performance.
While the world of short film does seem to now be following that of features and becoming longer, with many shorts opting for twenty plus minutes, Marion surprisingly feels too brief. The story has a lot of ground to cover, whether that be patriarchy, misogyny, motherhood or society’s impossible standards and underestimation of women.
Unfortunately, thirteen minutes simply isn’t enough to do justice to all of those themes, particularly the relationship between Marion and her daughter. It feels as though more time needed to be dedicated to it, as otherwise it feels underserved. Similar could be said of the wider impact of this moment, we’re seeing the intimate side of things but not really the bigger picture.
Although, there’s nothing lacking to be found with the performances. The tension that Caroline Noguès-Larbère brings to the table is absolutely excellent, the complexity that she instils within Marion in such a short timeframe is impressive. Her presence is strong but vulnerable, anxious but committed. She’s the star of the show, which is exactly how it should be, but she also has a terrific supporting cast behind her to bring that wide range of misogynistic to supportive attitudes.
Marion has an undeniably great story to tell but it feels like Caroline Noguès-Larbère’s performance does it more justice than the writing. While the direction and cinematography are strong work, the colour and texture of the aesthetic are incredibly compelling, the story isn’t reaching its full potential. The theme of motherhood isn’t given its due and it feels a little overly contained, missing out on defining the wider impact of this moment and giving it more context, despite doing a great job of capturing the weight of it.
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