What If…?

Colour, 35 mm
France, 2007, 87 min
Section: Horizons

Synopsis

Viktor and Margot are the ideal married couple – young, beautiful and in love. What’s more, they are both educated and ambitious, having studied law and found employment in the same law firm. What once looked perfect, however, might not be in reality, particularly when they are both equally vehement about building a career in the prestigious Parisian office. The company boss, Nicolas Bervesier, is a skirt-chaser with an eye for the ladies, so it’s clear which of them has the better chance of rising through the ranks more quickly. And Margot, who once seemed so emancipated, suddenly begins letting loose her arsenal of wily women’s ways with indefatigable verve and invention... “I wasn’t looking to make some kind of morality tale; I think a person should have a go at everything and not worry about the risks. After all, the nicest thing about life is having to deal with the situations that come about of our own doing”. The director’s comment suggests that both feminism and morality can be discussed with insight and a mildly comic-ironic tone.

About the director

Léa Fazer (b. 1965, Geneva, Switzerland) works as a director, screenwriter and actress and has written the screenplays for all of her films, which have drawn attention both at home and abroad. She debuted with the comedy Bienvenue en Suisse (2004), a Swiss-French co-production in which she ponders over what it means to be Swiss “with astuteness and impudence”. In 2007, in addition to her comedy What If…?, she also made a twenty-minute film entitled Bientôt j’arrête, which is set in a peep-show dressing room.