The Competition

Name: The Competition
Genre: Documentary
Released: February 22, 2019
Duration: 121 min
Rating: 69
Cast: Alain Bergala, Christel Dewynter, Claire Childeric, Emilie Deleuze, Emmanuel Chaumet

2019

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Generally favorable reviews based on 11 Critic Reviews

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Movie Details & Credits

| Release Date: February 22, 2019 | Not Rated

Starring: Alain Bergala, Christel Dewynter, Claire Childeric, Emilie Deleuze, Emmanuel Chaumet, Joël Danet, Marie-Christine Desandré, Michaël Dacheux, Olivier Ducastel, Xanaë Bove

Summary: The Competition begins, significantly, with the image of a locked gate—that of La Fémis, one of the most prestigious film schools in the world, offering hands-on training from working professionals, accepting only 40 students per year from hundreds of applicants. This Wiseman-esque documentary from Claire Simon, one of France’s premiereThe Competition begins, significantly, with the image of a locked gate—that of La Fémis, one of the most prestigious film schools in the world, offering hands-on training from working professionals, accepting only 40 students per year from hundreds of applicants. This Wiseman-esque documentary from Claire Simon, one of France’s premiere nonfiction filmmakers, observes the process whereby those lucky forty are selected—a process which is revealed to be highly personal, idiosyncratic, and subject to the vagaries of taste and personal prejudice. Funny, penetrating, and surprisingly suspenseful, The Competition offers not only a unique opportunity to see the inner workings of an institution at the very heart of the French film industry, but an invitation to look at the assumptions and roadblocks that shape any national film industry, and higher education in general.… Expand

Director: Claire Simon

Genre(s): Documentary

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 121 min

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Critic Reviews

The Film Stage Ryan Swen

Feb 21, 2019

Simon explores the extent to which both student and juror care about film, the occasional myopia when it comes to certain advisable standards of political correctness, and the casual way in which some hilariously denigrating remarks can be made. Read full review

The Observer (UK) Simran Hans

Feb 21, 2019

Simon’s fly-on-the-wall mode is a distancing tool, but shouldn’t be confused with ambivalence. Exposing the mechanics of decision-making is an implicit reproof of increasing conservatism, both of La Fémis itself and the film-makers they are producing. Read full review

Justin Chang

Feb 28, 2019

If the process of passing judgment at all fascinates you (and perhaps it goes without saying that it would fascinate a critic), it’s hard to resist The Competition’s extensive breakdown of how one weighs the merits of artistic goals and visions that tend to elude the usual scoring mechanisms. Read full review

Diego Semerene

Feb 21, 2019

Claire Simon knows that the best way to capture the anxiousness of a moment is to leave it unembellished. Read full review

Jordan Mintzer

Feb 21, 2019

In the end, it’s hard to tell whether Simon is actually critical of her establishment’s methods or whether she fully embraces them, although she is clearly compassionate toward the applicants and offers a reasonable payoff when we finally learn who made the cut. Read full review

IndieWire David Ehrlich

Feb 22, 2019

What The Competition considers a deliciously exciting rite of passage, viewers might interpret as a kind of cultural rot. The truth likely falls somewhere in between, as Simone’s documentary is too gripping to be dismissed, and too queasy to be accepted. Read full review

The Playlist Oktay Ege Kozak

Feb 21, 2019

Unfocused and unpolished, “Le Concours” might’ve been fared better if one of the prospective students picked up the camera instead. Read full review

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