Acquittal

The incessant rain erodes the earth, its material collapses, nothing remains of the landscape but long and narrow pillars that rise against an immense sky. On one of these islands, a survivor is stationary, clinging to his umbrella, his only weapon against the downpour. In the narrow confines of this tiny stage, individuals will be forced to live on top of each other.

A man and a woman meet. She is French, he's Japanese. The couple separate and, ten years later, the woman goes to Japan in search of one last image of her lost love. In a temple buried under the snow, the man and woman share a daily life filled with their past history.

This film will tell the story of a tour of France undertaken by two children of "controlled origin"—as Mouss and Hakim wryly put it. For us, the reference to the century-old schoolbook Le Tour de la France par deux enfants by Augustine Fouillée is far more than a mere nod; published in the wake of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, this reader was a fiercely patriotic manual designed to shape the education and morals of young French children. Written under the pseudonym "G. Bruno," the book recounted the journey of two children, André and Julien Volden, who—following the Prussian annexation of Alsace-Lorraine and the death of their father—set out to find their uncle across France’s beautiful provinces. The book was steeped in nationalism and a martial spirit, instilling the values ​​of the Third Republic—equality and citizenship—with a heavy hand, ensuring that no one dared to stand out from the crowd.