Léa: at at the crossroads of science and dreams

"Léa, un ange dans ma maison" (Léa, an angel in my house) is a film written, directed, produced and self-financed by Jacques Fichet, a member of CERN’s Communications Group. CERN features only as a backdrop, but you may recognise some of the locations from your daily life and some familiar faces. A preview screening is scheduled for this evening at the Cinéma Voltaire (Ferney-Voltaire, France). Other screenings with English subtitles will soon follow at cinemas all over the region.

 

For film buffs who want to assign the film a genre, it’s a scientific thriller. The life of Abel, an IT technician deeply affected by the death of his wife and only daughter in an accident, is turned upside down by the arrival of Léa. Meanwhile, scientists are conducting experiments on the use of artificial intelligence. The tension mounts when their prototype suddenly escapes. “Science and scientists are certainly part of the story, but what I wanted to do throughout the film was to show the links between the protagonists, their feelings and regrets, right up to the final denouement,” explains Jacques.

Science is seen from two perspectives in the film: the scientists bent on their experiments with little thought for ethics are set against what science can do for the humans in the story. “The film is very emotional,” says Stéphan Petit, a member of the GS Department who plays the role of Abel. “It’s a story of family and personal growth, but also one of surprise and discovery.” The role is Stéphan's first significant foray into cinema, but he has around 10 years’ experience as a theatre actor… alongside his work as an IT technician at CERN of course! 

It took around 15 years of thought and planning to transform Jacques’ initial idea into a film lasting 1 hour and 40 minutes. To begin with, the film was basically a family affair and was only worked on at weekends and on bank holidays. But in 2013 Jacques decided to take his project to the next level by devoting himself to it full time (taking several months’ sabbatical) and employing a professional technical team. “We filmed the second half of the film during summer 2013, keeping the filming time to a minimum in order to lower costs, but we didn't compromise on quality,” explains Jacques. In fact, some scenes took up to 27 takes to get the desired result! Others were cut in the final edit even though they represented several days’ work.

The character of Léa is played by Jacques’ daughter, and he himself plays the role of the scientist Cal Zimmerman. “My daughter thoroughly enjoyed the first three days of filming, but the other 67 days were exhausting for her and we had a lot less fun!” says Jacques. “It was a huge amount of work for everyone involved, including the editor, for example, who I asked to change the end of the film just two weeks ago!"

Since the film takes place at the crossroads between dreams and reality, we asked the team about their own dreams a few days before the preview screening: “I’m looking forward to spending another summer making a new film!” says Stéphan. And the last word from Jacques: “The film is currently being shown at several festivals and I’ve been contacted by interested distributors, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed!”

   

Léa at cinemas in the local region

Here are the screening times for Léa, un ange dans ma maison at cinemas in the local region:

  • Cinéma Voltaire (Ferney-Voltaire, France): every day from 21 January 2015.
  • Cinéma de Gexpreview on Sunday, 18 January 2015 at 5 p.m. and then every day from 21 January 2015.
  • Cinéma Cinélux (Genève)3 showings with English subtitles: Wednesday, 21 January 2015 at 9 p.m., Sunday, 25 January at 11 a.m., and Wednesday, 28 January at 9 p.m.
  • Cinéma Gaumont (Archamps, France)every day from 22 January 2015, at 2 p.m. and 9.30 p.m.
  • Cinéma de Thonon-Les-Bains (France)every day from 21 January 2015.
  • Cinéma de Bellegarde (France)from 4 February 2015.
  • Cinéma de Saint-Julien-en-Genevois (France)from 4 February 2015, with a talk by the production team on Friday, 6 February 2015.

 

by Antonella Del Rosso