Human Flowers of Flesh

Fluidity is the theme of Helena Wittmann's latest film, who set sail on the wide festival waters with the memorable Drift (17. NH). The flow of thoughts, mobility, and migration, the free, meandering current of the film essay, the interconnected network of vessels that our environment forms, and above all, the illusion of borders and the necessity of their defense. A Mediterranean cruise, guided by a woman (Angeliki Papoulia, familiar from Jorgos Lanthimos's films), takes us from Marseille to Sidi Bel Abbes on the Algerian coast, the first headquarters of the French Foreign Legion. Against this symbol of colonial violence and subjugation of lands, seas, and nations, the director juxtaposes her own "army" of poets, nomads, and connoisseurs led by a woman. Her crew does not confine itself within fortresses, nor does it desire conquest, but moves fluidly between water and land, silence and conversation, history and the present, navigating through various territorial waters—paying homage to the ever-changing world, a world without borders. Human Flowers of Flesh is also a homage to Claire Denis' Beau travail, so it couldn't be complete without Denis Lavant in the role of a legionnaire.