La Famille Bélier or, Why I cried in the cinema

La Famille Bélier

When I was fourteen, I wanted to become a singer. I felt the music in the tips of my toes and my mouth shared it with the world. I composed and recorded my own songs, two full cd’s. It had many little mistakes and my whole soul. This was my art.


Spotify-tip while reading: Je vole by Louane & All the night without love by Elvis Perkins

I never made it to music school though. I was a shy girl and to become a singer, I learned, singing well wasn’t enough. You have to push back your shoulders and step forward. Without raising your voice you won’t get there. And so I didn’t.

La Famille Bélier is about that. The story tells of a girl who grows up with deaf parents and finds out she has a talent for singing. When she finally sings Je vole (see Spotify tip), a song about flying out and leaving your parents, tears are leaving traces on my cheeks. I’m a cinema-sucker, always picking my seat one row before the the rest of the audience. But this time my mind takes me further. She is a shy girl raising her voice just at the right moment. What would have happened if I had done the same? Should I have pursued my dream? Damn..I could’ve done so much more…

…no, cut! It’s a movie and I never had a director and a script!

Fast-forward to fourteen years later. I actually don’t regret not going to music school. Curiosity took me around the world and I experienced life. Now I write scripts myself (see this articleand, although rusty, the music’s still in my voice. I will sing. And learn how to speak French. Je vole!

What does your script look like, have you become what you once wanted?

p.s. La Famille Bélier is a nice film. It’s really funny and shamelessly honest. It’s deliciously french! And it does not have the melodramatic elan you might expect from my story. If you’re a cinema-sucker, though, you might shed a few 🙂
p.p.s If you’re interested, four of the songs I once recorded are still firmly public at MySpace.com. Find them here.
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