Gagarine, from writer-directors Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh, is an indie drama and a bit of science fiction escapism which follows Youri (Alseni Bathily), a Black teenager in the living in a housing project in the Paris suburbs. Youri was named after cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, who leant his name to the Cité Gagarine, the housing complex where Youri lives. The teenager dreams of traveling into space and spends his days drawing schematics of ships and observing the stars through his telescope.
The backdrop to these dreams of space travel is his contrasting love for the massive, broken-down complex where he has grown up. He collects money to fix up the hallways and elevator even as his building is slated for demolition. Eventually, everyone in his building is evicted, but he stays behind, building his own shuttle within the empty building, modeled off the environments of space stations, complete with a control panel, filtration systems and a greenhouse. Although his mother left him behind after moving in with a new boyfriend, several friends join Youri to wait out the building’s destruction in a makeshift spacecraft/residence.
The film is beautifully shot. We are introduced to the story with real life footage of Yuri Gagarin visiting the tenements in the ‘60s, observing the past through a nostalgic filter. This sense of nostalgia, dreaminess and longing for things that seem impossible imbues the entire film. Outside of the archival footage of space travel and tenement living are crisp shots of Youri’s life and surroundings, with the clean geometric lines of the vast tenements, the clear blue skies, the saturated, cool colors of the tenements’ rooms. The color palette and visual flourishes of the film remind one of Moonlight with its rich blues, its beautiful shots of Black youth navigating underprivileged lives, problematic mothers and loneliness.
Youri’s seriousness is combined with youthful naivété, and his longing recalls, Fish Tank, another film which explores youthful longing and disillusionment in low income housing. The Gagarine buildings are full of French people of color who have formed a community in a dreary place. They have their schedules, routines, understanding of each other. We get a sense of the rhythms and beauty of this kind of life. Dialogue is sparse, and the focus is on visual themes of Youri’s surroundings and his restrained emotional experience.
The visuals and aesthetics of the film are beautiful and engaging. The camera’s focus and clarity convey the respect and love the filmmakers have for their subjects; they show the injustices against and humanity of French people of West African, Middle Eastern or Roma descent. However, much of the film’s focus is on visuals above plot and motivation. Too often, Youri’s restraint and silence lead him to opaqueness. His character seems heartfelt and yearning, and in certain moments his expressions are of a person caught between childhood an adulthood, dreams and reality. But his true connection to the tenements, to space travel, never really comes through. Does he love the building because he has always lived there? Does he dream of space travel because it is an escape? His character, like much of the film, does not feel fully grounded, but merely sketched out. We don’t get enough specific details to be deeply invested in the developments or outcomes. We only glimpse Youri’s hurt, but are not convinced by his choice to remain squatting in the tenements. Characters who becomes friends are interesting and engaging, but aren’t fleshed out beyond lovely brief moments.
Gagarine is a beautiful look at the loneliness of overlooked and denigrated members of society. It has inventive moments and symbolism, as the neglected tenements become a space shuttle. It’s a dreamy journey with no clear destination, but one will likely enjoy the journey nonetheless.
Photo courtesy of Cohen Media Group
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