Locarno review: L’avant poste 21 (2025)
Pardi di Domani
National Competition
Welcome speech? Check. Props for the show? Check. Strawberries? Check. And alcohol-free tiramisu? …Amaretto isn’t an alcoholic beverage, right? Presented in the national competition of the Pardi di Domani selection at Locarno, the opening scene of Camille Surdez’s short L’Avant-poste 21 intrigues. Slumped on their balcony, somewhere between fun and apprehension, two friends (Eve Aouizerate and Luna Desmeules) are preparing for an evening whose very nature is difficult to determine — justifiably so. Too serious for a birthday party, too intimate for welcoming a new roommate, too relaxed for a funeral, Swiss director Camille Surdez focuses on an abortion night.
The next few hours will be crucial. While their friend (Louise Crouzet) awaits the effects of the medical abortion she has just undergone at a clinic, the two hosts wonder, offering themselves as entertainers as well as emotional and physical support. How should they act? How should they behave? As if nothing had happened, so as not to dramatise the situation; seriously, so as not to underestimate the situation; with great consideration, to put her at ease; or as usual, so as not to be too clingy? For her graduation short film, Camille Surdez delicately and humorously captures the dilemmas of the three women, for which there is no easy answer. The image faithfully reflects this balance, alternating between composed, static shots that give the apartment an overly solemn aura and simpler but more lively shots, born out of a joy that erases the big question.
With the rollback of abortion rights in several countries around the world (Poland, Hungary, Honduras and the United States, to name a few), the topic has found itself at the heart of political debates and cinematic representations. L’Avant-poste 21 offers a twofold response. First, through a beautiful scene ridiculing the new legislation in the US with big moustaches, sheriff hats and lap dances, and second, through the desire to depict, in a very simple but ultimately rare way, a normal abortion, supported and without taboo. By never straying from the triviality of everyday life, which manifests itself even in the most crucial moments, Camille Surdez strikes the right note.
Year: 2025
Runtime: 20’30’’
Country: Switzerland
Language: French
Directed by: Camille Surdez
Written by: Camille Surdez
Cast: Louise Crouzet, Eve Aouizerate, Luna Desmeules, Ismaël Attia
Cinematography by: Camille Anker
Editing by: Maëlle André
Music by: Amos Krakover
Sound by: Amos Krakover
Production design by: Lucie Kheloui
Costume design by: Lea Favre
Produced by: Elisa Garbar, Jean-Guillaume Sonnier, Françoise Mayor, Celya Larré, Paolo Moretti
Production companies: Louise Productions Lausanne, Ecole cantonale d’art de Lausanne, RTS Radio Télévision Suisse
