JACKY IN THE KINGDOM OF WOMEN /
Jacky au royaume des filles

 

North American Premiere • Comedy • France, 2013

DCP • 1.85 • Dolby 5.1 • Color • 90 min

 

Directed by: Riad Sattouf

Written by: Riad Sattouf

Cinematography: Josée Deshaies

Film Editing: Virginie Bruant

Original Score: Riad Sattouf

Produced by: Anne-Dominique Toussaint (Les Films des Tournelles)

Coproduced by: Pathé Films, Orange Studio, France 2 Cinéma, Alvy Productions

Cast: Vincent Lacoste (Jacky), Charlotte Gainsbourg (La colonelle), Didier Bourdon (Brunu), Anémone (La générale), Michel Hazanavicius (Julin)

International Sales: Pathé Distribution

 

Imagine a world where women call the shots, a world where women fight the wars, run the government, have the illustrious careers, and hold all the important positions of power. Now imagine being a man in that world. That man is 20 year old Jacky, and that fabled world is the Republic of Bubunne, a totalitarian matriarchy where men, wearing chadors and bejeweled dog collars, are relegated to lives of domestic servitude. Like all members of Bubunne’s downtrodden sex, Jacky dreams of marrying up. All the way up. He’s got his sights set on the Colonel, daughter of the supreme leader. But if he is ever going to make beautiful daughters with her, he first has to finagle his way into the Presidential Ball. With a memorable cameo by The Artist filmmaker Michel Hazanavicius playing a prostitute/rebel commander, this brilliant, incisive political satire unspools like a fairytale gone cruelly and hilariously berserk.

 

In 2009, writer/director Riad Sattouf made a big impression with his first feature, The French Kissers (COLCOA 2010). Ostensibly a teen comedy, the film won the Best First Feature César for its unadorned, unfiltered depiction of adolescence. Before pivoting to cinema, the young Sattouf had already forged a career as a comic book author, and had become widely known for his weekly comic strip in the satirical newspaper, Charlie Hebdo. When Sattouf first heard the Cinderella story as a child growing up in Syria he wondered: why doesn't Cinderella rebel against her abusive family? Why are all the girls making themselves available to one sole Prince Charming? Why does Prince Charming choose the submissive Cinderella over her livelier half-sisters? Jacky in the Kingdom of Women flips the gender roles in an attempt to find the answers.

 

 “Cinderella and Barbarella, with lots of Zucker Bros.-style zaniness tossed in […] director Riad Sattouf offers up an amusing, and often piercing, critique of dictatorships both past and present.”

- Jordan Mintzer HOLLYWOOD REPORTER