The Wind Turns (2018) (Bettina Oberli, 2018) French | Russian | English

Reviewed by Kaio Fadul Farkouh Viewed at the 2019 SBFF

In this French movie, we get ourselves in a love story, where goes beyond love and each character represents something. Directed by Bettina Oberli, the movie tells a story about a couple, that lives in a farm. Sabine (Melanie Thierry) and Alex (Pierre Deladonchamps), the couple, decided to install a wind turbine so they can get energy on the farm. With that, we are introduced to the character of Samuel ( Nuno Lopes), the guy in charge to install the wind turbine. However, his arrive brings much more than his original charge. It makes Sabine decided, who she really loves. Samuel or Alex.

The film starts with Sabine’s sister, Galina (Anastasia Shevtsova), arriving at the farm. She lives in the city,  we see her struggle to live in a place without technology. She is clearly not used to this country life-style. Sometimes it feels way to exposit the way she behaves, trying to find spots where she can use her phone, or even asking for wifi. And obviously, her favorite food is hamburger. However, it is when Samuel arrives that the story really gets interesting.

The couple need some other way to get energy, so they decided to get energy through the most natural way, with a wind turbine, since Alex is against any type of modern stuff, for example, medicine, cell phone and etc. So Samuel arrives. The first thing we noticed is how different Samuel is from the other characters. He runs over a pig, and immediately he offers money for Sabine to buy a new one. Samuel represents the modern, the capitalism. Just like Galina. As the story goes on, we see Sabina getting more and more interest on the modern, capitalist guy.

Through the movie, we see the struggle of how hard it is to live in a farm. The story follows Sabine points of view, the view of someone who is tired to suffer with her country life. However, she has to decide if she will stay strong and live with the guy, that she has been living or she will pick her new way of life that she is introduced by Samuel. The movie is clear tends to view a point of view to how it is to live in a farm and how is to live in city. It does critic values from both sides of the coin, however at the end is only one that will stand. And it comes with Sabina decision.