Zonzon

(Banged-Up)

A film by Laurent Bouhnik (France, 1998),

with Pascal Greggory, Gaël Morel, Jamel Debbouze, Fabienne Babe, François Levantal, Serge Blumental.

Life in jail is definitely not a dress rehearsal. Life conditions are obviously very tough and prisoners have to go through a lot of procedures to hope for better days. In the meantime, they have to learn to live in a community and cope with each other. Francky, Grandjean and Kader share the same cell. Each of them has a different personality and social background. Still, they have to live together...

Zonzon is Laurent Bouhnik's second feature-length film (after outstanding Select Hotel). His description of the prison world is very tough... and eventually somewhat stereotyped in his approach of the different characters: of course there's the tough guy, Francky, there's the young beginner, Grandjean, and there's the inevitable clown character that is supposed to make up for the general tense atmosphere... This leads to a number of clichés that spoil the initial concept of the film and make it boil down to a moralizing biased story. Still, Bouhnik's technical skills remain unquestionable as his play of light and shadow truly stands out to make the photography even more vivid and the scenes subsequently more meaningful. Pascal Greggory's interpretation of the tough guy who keeps repressing his anger all along the film is particularly remarkable whereas Jamel Debbouze's overacting tends to get irritating by the end. Let's therefore consider Zonzon as an accident in Bouhnik's filmography since he proved in the past with Select Hotel his vision could be both hyper-realistic/committed AND restrained/unbiased.

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