THE MARCHING BAND © Thibault Grabherr
En Fanfare (The Marching Band): a musical social portrait by Emmanuel Courcol
Cannes Première presents En fanfare (The Marching Band), the third feature film of screenwriter, actor and director Emmanuel Courcol. This sensitive, melodious work brings music and meaningful relationships to the fore.
When Thibaut (Benjamin Lavernhe) learns of his potentially life-threatening illness, a blood compatibility test opens up unexpected horizons. An acclaimed conductor, he sets out to find his biological brother Jimmy (Pierre Lottin, Un triomphe/The Big Hit), whom destiny has prevented from becoming a musician. In En Fanfare (The Marching Band), the crossed paths of Emmanuel Courcol’s two protagonists raise the question of social determinism.
Emmanuel Courcol also explores the subject of resilience in his third feature film after Cessez-le-feu (Ceasefire) (2016) and Un triomphe (The Big Hit), a comedy with Kad Merad and Marina Hands which made the Official Selection in 2020. By seeking to restore his brother’s career, Thibaut himself rediscovers a meaning to his existence. In Un triomphe (The Big Hit), Emmanuel Courcol told the similar story of a defeated actor who finds his way back by putting on a play in a prison. In Cessez-le-feu (Ceasefire), he looked at the topic of psychological reconstruction after trauma. A co-writer of numerous films – including Welcome, for which he was nominated at the César Awards in 2010 – Emmanuel Courcol also wrote the script of his latest feature film from behind the camera.
