La Vie au ranch

Sophie Letourneur states that she came to cinema by ricochet. During her applied arts studies she made works combining photos and text which made her want to go on to study video at the Arts Déco school. Following this, she got herself equipment to be able to continue working at home, recording conversations and editing them. This collection served as a base for her writing work to give a form to her desire to write fiction. Le voltigeur was the first film to result from this approach. Then came La tête dans le vide (2004) – which won the Audience Award at Premiers Plans in Angers – followed by two medium-length films, Manue Bolonaise (2005) and Roc et Canyon (2007), both of which were released in cinemas and broadcast on ARTE. La vie au ranch is her first feature and has already won the Audience Award and the French Film Award at the Belfort "Entrevues" Festival."I wanted to show the ordinary moments of youth, moments which are nothing special in themselves, but which become special when you realise that you can no longer live them in the same way. On an everyday basis, these moments do not seem particularly interesting. The action is ordinary, but it is the ephemeral link which exists between these people, it is the fact of feeling more yourself with others than alone at a time when you are looking to find yourself. The strength of this link enables the natural, ease, confidence, being laid back. These discussions between friends end up mingling in a single freewheeling thought, as if you are expressing everything that flows through you, without any barriers. Total availability, a break at the end of your studies before the group becomes deformed, split up, just before everyone goes off to live their lives, their work, their couple. In this film, I want to shed light on the subtle exception of these moments which are almost suspended in time, get across the feeling of what is astonishing about them, despite their apparent banality. Filming what can only be experienced at a certain age is my way of talking about that age. That is what I have tried to do with this trilogy: pre-adolescence for Manue Bolonaise, adolescence for Roc et Canyon, post-adolescence for La Vie au Ranch. At the heart of these three films is teenage friendship and separation, the nostalgia for what can no longer be lived and the mourning for a part of you every time" (S. Letourneur).