CINÉCO : NOTRE SALUT

France, 2026, 2 hours 37 minutes – Directed by Emmanuel Marre, starring Swann Arlaud, Sandrine Blancke and Harpo Guit
Drama, History – Art House Cinema Jury Prize

September 1940: Pétain’s regime takes hold. Henri Marre, aged 49, arrives in Vichy penniless, with no contacts, far from his wife and children. He sees the new administration as an opportunity to finally find the position he deserves. In his suitcase is his self-published political treatise, *Notre Salut*, in which he defends his patriotic convictions and his engineering methods. His credo: ‘gaining in efficiency’ to lift France out of its debacle.

*Notre Salut* is certainly a passionately political film – one which, through its patient and skilful examination, explores the ‘small steps’ that lead to mediocrity and everyday evil – but it is above all a film that constructs politics through the language of cinema. A film that depicts small monstrosities through lighting, low-angle shots and off-centre framing. A film that seeks to uncover the revealing discrepancy, the human flaw, through editing. We applaud the film’s great freedom of tone, where laughter becomes a form of forgiveness, inviting us to remain vigilant, to look closely at ourselves, without ever moralising.
In short, a courageous, inventive, exhilarating arthouse film accessible to all. At a time when fundamental principles are faltering and values are being turned on their head, it seems to us eminently relevant and necessary to champion such a cinematic and political statement in our cinemas and amongst our audiences.
NB: the character in the film is none other than the director’s grandfather, and we will be screening a filmed interview with him after the screenings.