“If you don’t want to steal, don’t steal.” Les Princes is the first feature-length film by Tony Gatleaf to gain some fame. Unfortunately, his earlier work seems to have sunk into oblivion, except for the 1982 short film Canta Gitano.
The picture shows the viewer the life of a gypsy family in France in the second half of the 20th century. Father, grandmother and daughter lead a difficult life, trying to find a place in society and preserve their traditions. In parallel, their relationship develops: the girl, for example, is not at all to the taste of vagrant life, she wants to go to school and become a veterinarian. Grandma seems to treat everyone around with understanding and is a kind of example of a balance of traditions and progress (by the way, even reading with the help of a granddaughter, in my opinion, is worthy). My father seemed to me a very vacillating personality - he is not a tyrant, no, hardly a dictator, but his manners are harsh, in many ways even rude, and this is only in relation to his own - he does not trust strangers at all, and it is worth noting that these strangers here almost always appear in a bad light.
Do you know where I just came from? From a public dump! Do you know why I was there? This is the place we have been assigned to camp!
There is another important character, in my opinion, the mother of the girl. Thrown out of two families, she tries to do everything to meet her daughter, but does not cause the dangerous anger of her husband, who does not want to see her.
After all, everyone has their own tragedy, and everyone deserves sympathy. The story turned out to be bitter, touching, in its own way beautiful and interesting. The actors were very naturalistic, which gives the film a certain aura of documentary. Separately, I want to praise the soundtrack - it is magnificent here, gypsy motifs fit perfectly into the plot, and in general the film came out very musical and lively.
Gypsy princes, gypsy princes,
Where are you going, where are your borders?
Is the world around you mockingly small?
The sun has fallen over you again.