An undefined era, a non-place, a sense of estrangement: the astonishing effect of the “tale that never loses its touch of reality” is strongly pursued by director Olivier Babinet in the plot of NORMAL, the feature film competing in Generator +16. Fourteen-year-old Lucie takes care of her father William. He is a loving but unreliable person, afflicted with multiple sclerosis. There is a chemistry that holds their home together: William steps out in a bathrobe and invents jokes and puns to make his daughter smile; Lucie does her best at school, works, and takes care of household chores. Their bond is put to a tough test: as soon as a social worker is appointed to visit them, Lucie and William devise a complex plan to make the social services believe that they lead a perfectly normal life. The question remains: “In which exact era is NORMAL set? My set designer, Toma Baqueni, even pushed me to review fantastic films that I really like, including Donnie Darko and especially It Follows, because they immerse a very contemporary youth in a suburban imagination that goes back in time” - says the director. “The contrast produced leads the film towards a fable, while maintaining a great credibility due to the actors, their appearance and the closeness maintained with them. I wanted to film the environment of Lucie and her sick father, this closed-in house, without pity for their fate. Dreams always make space a little more breathable”.
