No Guns or Gavels: A SIFF Preview of All Your Faces
All Your Faces (2024)
Directed by Jeanne Herry
Starring Starring Adèle Exarchopoulos, Raphaël Quenard. Birane Ba and Dali Benssalah
As viewed at the 50th Annual Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF)
Can a bridge be built across the chasm between a criminal and their victim? Does justice restore the wreckage a crime creates? These and other questions permeate Jeanne Herry’s stirring chamber piece, All Your Faces.
This film focuses on France’s restorative justice program and a group of victims and criminals who engage in several sessions of dialogue. I don’t know if this program is unique to France, but it’s interesting. Parallel to this group is Chloé (Adèle Exarchopoulos, who won a Cesar Award for her performance). She too is engaged with the restorative justice program, but for different reasons.
Some believe justice is only possible in fiction. It’s one of the main reasons we go to see movies. With a gun or a gavel, justice feels real in a movie theater. John Wick murders multiple baddies, exacting his revenge, and the audience can walk away satisfied. In real life, however, justice is messy.
All Your Faces doesn’t use guns or gavels. It uses dialogue. With very few locations, and a brilliant ensemble, All Your Faces brings internal conflicts to the fore. Criminals and victims come face to face, and they share their experiences. Or at least they attempt to, and perhaps that’s the best any of them can do. The film’s dialogue isn’t witty or philosophical, but it feels genuine. It feels honest. And that honesty is powerful. Especially when the talented actors in this film convey it.
I’ve worked with several ex-cons in my life. Almost all of whom were incarcerated because of drugs. Sadly, I saw the vast majority of them return to drugs, which then lead to re-incarceration or death. My experience makes it difficult to imagine myself hiring an ex-con. I saw what happened; I witnessed a pattern. So why would I assume the next time will be different? How many second chances can one person have?
I myself have been the victim of a crime. In college, my face was kicked in, and there was no conviction even though witnesses knew who did it. Could I sit across from the person who beat me and have a discussion? Could I forgive them? I don’t know, but I still work alongside ex-cons to this day. Some of them are the best coworkers I have.
This film will challenge viewers. In the end, it puts forth a message, but it doesn’t need it. The dialogue and the performances create a sympathetic experience that is cathartic. But is catharsis justice? The answer isn’t clear, but it’s something audiences can discuss after experiencing All Your Faces.
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