Bastien Bösiger

Claude Goretta directed “L'invitation” in 1973. For filmmaker Lionel Baier, born in 1975, it is like a “travelling companion”, to adapt Serge Daney’s expression. He feels it is definitive proof that a Swiss can be deeply Chekhovian. The young filmmaker goes to Geneva to ask his elder how he achieved the whoosh of water effect in the film, why attention to detail matters so much, and how to film great actors such as François Simon. This encounter with Claude Goretta – but also with Isabelle Huppert, Nathalie Baye, Michel Robin and Frédérique Meininger – leads one of the greatest of Swiss filmmakers to open up about his work.

August 1st, somewhere in the Aubonne countryside, Cécile and her ten-year-old daughter Marion have just acquired an old 1970’s Ford Taunus estate car. But the roads through the region at the heart of the north shore of Lake Geneva are much longer and strewn with pitfalls than would appear and their voyage is delayed incessantly. Perhaps, however, the way ahead will open up for Cécile and Marion once the problems have been solved. As far as the moon.

Ludovic, a weekend biker, has planned an afternoon with Axelle in a wooden shed. Despite her attraction to him, the young and bold Axelle is determined not to get caught in Ludovic’s well oiled game of seduction…

Two young men are playing in a bathtub. Then a third and fourth slip in to join them. They are called Émile and they are looking for their “perfect mother” when a fifth man arrives, the Émile who reconciles them all.

An ensemble portrait of the 2011 Swiss federal elections. Following the fate of three candidates from the French-speaking part of Switzerland, the film sheds light on the richness and complexity of the political ritual.

At sixteen they have finished school without formal qualification of any kind. Now they have been allowed an extra year of school to help them find a position. Choosing a career, applying for jobs, giving job interviews, convincing both employers and family and making plans for one's own future: these are all crucial steps to take and difficult goals to reach.