Nyon Film Festival 2009

Jared Bloch

In “C’est Notre Histoire,” the filmmaker Frank Wimart retraces the trajectory of his absentee father’s life, beginning from the younger Wimart’s 30th year to the moment his father, Jean-Pierre literally sailed away from the family 25 years before.  As Wimart unwravels his father’s convoluted past, he begins to discover if not to understand, the injuries that plagued Jean-Pierre and made him capable of abandoning his wife and young child.

Frank’s journey begins in France, where his parents grew up, and were married, before emigrating to Canada. Wimart establishes himself as a skilled interviewer early on in the movie, drawing candid comments and unedited diatribes from his paternal grandmother and uncle, both fully aware of the documentary unfolding around them. Even while his grandmother is recounting the pain and suffering of being disowned by Frank’s father, however, cracks begin to appear in this family history.

As Frank soon learns, his father was effectively orphaned three times over: his father’s father was killed before the elder Wimart was born, at which point Frank’s grandmother left his father in the care of a godmother, who subsequently returned the boy at age 5 to his biological mother.

During a summer visit to her hometown in Brittany, Frank’s mother confides, “He [Frank's father] told me he couldn’t teach you what hadn’t been taught to him.” But that is not an excuse not to break the cycles that hurt you, she adds.  “You divorce your spouse, not your child, you don’t do that.”

In fact, Jean-Pierre has apparently divorced himself from love, and this is the painful realization Mr. Wimart is left with. Having tracked down, befriended, and learned something of his estranged father, Frank bids him farewell at the airport, unsure of what words to say, and with Jeanne-Pierre literally incapable of uttering any words of endearment.

There are many reasons to appreciate “C’est Notre Histoire,” not the least of which is a keen sense for cinematography, and Mr. Wimart’s skill at letting the protagonists tell their own story. At 85 minutes, however, the introspection becomes belabored and some of the otherwise revealing interactions become quaint.  Still, as Frank’s mother comments, pain inflicted by those we love is not an excuse to ignore self-reflection or to pursue self-improvement, and in this sense Wimart’s film is a stunning success.

See Visions du Réel Film Festival for more information about this film.

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