Kore-eda recognizes “Les Bonnes étoiles” among child traffickers

• The Japanese Hirokazu Kore-eda signs a funny film around the abduction of a baby, with Song Kang-ho at the top of the bill, rewarded with the interpretation prize at Cannes.

• "Les Bonnes étoiles" offers its author a new variation on the theme of the blended family of odds and ends.

• Although dealing with child trafficking, this film is more of a comedy in the form of a road movie than a true thriller.

A box at the entrance of a church or a hospital to collect the baby that its mother wishes to abandon.

It's a common, albeit controversial, practice in South Korea, where X-rated childbirth is not allowed.

Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda first became interested in this phenomenon when filming

, about a child swap at the maternity ward.

And which he then deepened when he had the opportunity to shoot a film with Korean actors.

“I have long believed that when a child is born, becoming a mother was more obvious than becoming a father, which required more time, explains the filmmaker to

.

So no, it's not because a woman gives birth that she necessarily feels like a mother.

And conversely, a woman may want to feel like a mother without giving birth.

It is this reflection that led Kore-eda to imagine

which won the Palme d'Or at Cannes, but also his new film

, which goes even further in the theme of the blended family. odds and ends with somewhat limited and even downright outlaw characters.

A young woman slips her child into a box in front of a church.

Two crooks seize it in order to resell it to an infertile but wealthy couple.

This is the starting point of the Lucky Stars.

And what does it matter if Kore-eda turns its back on the realism of situations which transforms this kidnapping into a road movie that is more comic than truly dramatic.

The relaxation of Song Kang-ho

The first surprise comes from the fact that the two child traffickers turn out to be quite friendly, generous and funny, with a special mention for Song Kang-ho, who played the father in

by Bong Joon-ho, and who has mastered the art of holding a baby as if he had carried it all his life.

"Really, I love how relaxed it is," says Kore-eda.

The second is that the young mother of the abandoned baby very quickly joins the crook duo in the kidnapping of her own child.

“She will take time but will end up wanting to assume this motherhood”, says the filmmaker.

The third, finally, comes from the duo of female cops who set off after them with the desire to round off the angles of a flagrante delicto which they seek to establish but which is slow to arrive.

“False leads make it possible to question the prejudices that one may have about each of the characters”, further believes Kore-eda.

All this gives a film on a rather serious social subject, but which does not take itself seriously.

manages to radiate a cheerful charm.

With a special mention to Song Kang-ho whom we have the pleasure to find in great shape and who did not steal his interpretation prize at the last Cannes festival.

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