At the Le Havre café where she is a waitress, Marie-Line (Louane Emera) meets Alexandre (Victor Belmondo), a student from a good family who dreams of making films in Paris. From a poor family, without education or ambition, she does not fit in with Victor’s environment. “Ghosted” by the latter, the pink-haired waitress will confront him in front of his home.
Arrested for assault against Victor, Marie-Line discovers to her amazement that the judge (Michel Blanc) who must decide her fate is none other than the customer at whom she shouted at the café where she has just lost her job. Clément, the judge hires her as a driver so that she can pay the fine and thus avoid prison.
Based on the age-old formula of the mismatched tandem, Marie-Line and her judge, based on the novel Changing the Sense of Rivers, by Murielle Magellan, allows Jean-Pierre Améris (Les émotifsonymes) to explore a theme that appeals to him is expensive, social determinism among ordinary people. However, the scenario, written with Marion Michau, reserves few surprises and remains on the surface. Furthermore, if the figure of the judge seems credible, that of Marie-Line, who nevertheless evokes the petulant teacher in Happy-Go-Lucky, by Mike Leigh, makes gestures that are not always plausible.
Very early on, the story of this improbable friendship becomes as monotonous as the back and forth trips in a beat-up Twingo that the two characters, who are polar opposites of each other, make every day. Without really spicing up the story, but changing its course somewhat, Marie-Line’s sister (Alexandra Gentil) and her girlfriend (Ekatarina Rusnak), drug traffickers, as well as Evelyne (Nathalie Richard), will be added. the judge’s lover. Of course, Alexandre, whom Marie-Line is no longer allowed to approach, will also be involved.
Supported by Virginie Saint-Martin, who shot her Folies fermières, the filmmaker exploits the singular beauty of the port city, extracting a certain joie de vivre rather than its ambient grayness as in Aki Kaurismäki (Le Havre). These contemplative shots contrast nicely with the stagnant scenes in the cluttered cabin of the car and in the messy apartment that Marie-Line shares with her unemployed and depressed father (Philippe Rebbot).
During the conversations between Marie-Line and her judge, where both will obviously learn from each other, and vice versa, it is clear that there is an irresistible chemistry between the exuberant Louane Emera and the phlegmatic Michel Blanc. Faced with the giant of comedy, whose gaze betrays the sadness of the character, the revelation of The Bélier Family, by Éric Lartigau, does not allow itself to be imposed. This tandem, as unexpected as it is sympathetic, certainly proves to be the winning element of this dramatic comedy with melancholic accents sewn with pink thread.