Cut the Chit Chat

No chit chat, small talk, or gossip in this French barbershop. The customers are all boys aged between 12 and 18. They come in for a cool, fashionable hairstyle to look their best for the girls. But while they are being filmed from the front, as if the viewer is hiding behind the hairdresser’s mirror, director Léa Forest invites them to talk about the deepest of subjects. In response to forthright questions about love, sex, bullying, and what it’s like to be a man, they sometimes answer uncomfortably, but they are surprisingly frank. These tough-looking boys aren’t exactly big talkers, but their emotions are revealed precisely in the succinctness of their replies about an impossible love for an older woman or the lack of attention from girls. The shop gradually becomes a kind of confessional, a place where it’s safe to say anything. During the few moments when nobody is speaking, all that can be heard is the sound of scissors and clippers, which helps to create an almost sacred atmosphere. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)