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Ondes de choc – Prénom: Mathieu

Shock Waves – First Name: Mathieu
Panorama Special 2018
Seventeen-year-old Mathieu Reymond lies brutally battered and raped in a field of reeds. It is only after his release from hospital that the memories come back, unannounced and fragmentary, but still so precise that regular meetings with two police officers not only allow the perpetrator’s identikit image to take shape, but also the chronology of the crime itself. Life in Mathieu’s small middle-class town, however, continues seemingly untouched. In detached houses, mothers discover fitness and microwave food; while Walkmen, flirting and ‘Mad Max’ determine the everyday lives of young people. Mathieu is initially left to deal with his trauma on his own.
The narrative flow in Lionel Baier’s film becomes increasingly dreamy. In flashbacks and daydreams, some of the characters suddenly start talking to camera, the images are sometimes briefly slowed down, and the past bursts into the present more and more. Reymond, first name Mathieu never actually existed. However, Michel Peiry, nicknamed ‘the sadist of Romont’, did indeed terrorise Switzerland and elsewhere as a rapist and murderer between 1981 and 1987. Part of a four-part series on true crime cases.
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by Lionel Baier
with Maxime Gorbatchevsky, Michel Vuillermoz, Ursina Lardi, Mickael Ammann, Adrien Barazzone, Pierre-Isaïe Duc Switzerland 2017 French 60' Colour

With

  • Maxime Gorbatchevsky (Mathieu)
  • Michel Vuillermoz (Jotterand)
  • Ursina Lardi (Edda)
  • Mickael Ammann (Mica)
  • Adrien Barazzone (Milan)
  • Pierre-Isaïe Duc (Roland)

Crew

Director Lionel Baier
Screenplay Lionel Baier, Julien Bouissoux
Cinematography Patrick Lindenmaier
Editing Pauline Gaillard
Sound Marc von Stürler
Producers Lionel Baier, Agnieszka Ramu, Françoise Mayor
Co-Production Arte Straßburg
SRG SSR Bern
Radio Télévision Suisse RTS Genf

Produced by

Bande à part Films

Photos

Press Conference

Lionel Baier

© Claude Dussez

Born in Lausanne, Switzerland in 1975, he studied literature at the university there and began working in 1996 as an assistant director on films and commercials. In 2001 he assumed the position of director of the film department at the École cantonale d’art de Lausanne (ECAL). He is also co-founder of the Bande à part Films production company.

Filmography

2000 Celui au Pasteur 2001 La Parade (Notre Histoire); documentary 2002 Mon Père, c'est un lion; documentary 2004 Garçon Stupide 2006 Comme des Voleurs (à l'Est) 2008 Un autre Homme 2010 Low Cost (Claude Jutra) · Emile de 1 à 5; short film 2011 Toulouse 2013 Bon vent Claude Goretta; documentary · Les Grandes Ondes (à l'Ouest) 2015 La Vanité 2017 Ondes de choc - Prénom: Mathieu (Shock Waves – First Name: Mathieu); Panorama

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2018