JJA

An 85-year-old man who lives remotely in his luxurious estate tells the story of his economic success and the reasons for his exile in Switzerland. His tale encompasses several conflicts that have set him against people who were more or less close to him, and alternately displays one day to another, throughout each corner of his residence.

"JJA are his initials. This is the portrait of those initials: JJA in the garden, JJA in a deckchair on his balcony, in his office, in his bathroom. All in all, JJA, and his loneliness. His large mansion in Switzerland called "Rosebud" is the sole setting of the film, as decided by Gaëlle Boucand. But even though lonesomeness seems to be his fate, as was the case for Welles’ Kane, this deserted setting is filled with an unceasing flood of words. So what exactly is being told in this enclosed place? Many stories, actually – complicated, undecipherable business stories, about financial scams perpetrated upon him. And there he goes, appraising his success, evoking with resignation his setbacks with lawyers, business partners, his ex-wife, or local shopkeepers who have pinned him as a tax dodger. He soliloquises, shares his memories, his obsession with numerology, his relationship with money, works of art, interior design, the building of a hen-house, and converses at great length about the state of the world or mere anecdotes. He just talks endlessly. Filmed in static shots, indoor or outdoor, he starts a reflection here, resumes it there, without never really finish it. There is a gap, a kaleidoscopic diffraction between his voice and his body, as if they were disconnected. Clearly, in spite of his loud confession, JJA remains a mystery. But another, distanced portrait emerges: the portrait of a form of power, that of speech and of a man who secures a kind of order with his own words."
(Nicolas Féodoroff - FIDMarseille)