FRED Film Radio - Interview with director David Lambert on his film ALL YOURS (Je Suis á Toi)

FESTIVAL SYNOPSYS - Young Argentine Lucas arrives in a small Belgian town to visit gay bakery owner Henry, who fell in love with him through the internet; Lucas strutted his erotic stuff online in the hope of securing a better future for himself. Henry buys him a plane ticket to Europe, expecting in return that Lucas will not only share his bed but also help out at the bakery. However, their ideas about living together differ greatly. On top of that, Lucas gets to know a Canadian woman named Audrey and her son Jeff.

This unusual starting point for director Lambert serves his aim of delving deeply into our interpersonal relationships, our wishes and desires, and the understandable need for a supportive environment. The filmmaker succeeded in humorously describing and distinguishing the film’s characters and in aptly portraying their fragility and inner uncertainty. The bold musical and visual elements round out the picture’s compelling atmosphere, and are among the most telling aspects of the talented Belgian filmmaker’s unmistakable style.

Matt Micucci - Where did the inspiration come from?

David Lambert - The idea comes from my meeting a lot of prostitutes and a lot of clients of prostitutes and my resulting realisation of the fact that cinema does not deal realistically with this subject matter. The general depiction of prostitution on film is that of a criminal profession, and I wanted to avoid making a crime out of it and to depict it in a more fair and just way.

MM - The use of comedy is very original when dealing with this theme.

DL - Comedy and humour is part of our lives. Even when life is tragic there is no reason why you can't laugh at things. [...]

MM - Probably the most compelling theme in this film is that of loneliness.

DL - [...] I think today relations are very different from what they used to be in the past. Take for example an Arcade Fire concert I was at. There were 20,000 people there and what should have been a collective event became all about the individual experience, when the first thing people did was rush to take a picture of it. [...] But there is three types of loneliness in the film. The first is the shop keeper's loneliness as she deals with the loss of her husband, the second is that of the Argentinian boy whose loneliness is more due to poverty - it's an economical loneliness. The third is that of the baker, whose loneliness is brought on by the fact that he is very much stuck in his small village.

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