The Worst Ones

The Worst Ones (French: Les Pires) is a 2022 French drama film directed by Lise Akoka and Romane Gueret. The film premiered at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Un Certain Regard Award.

The Worst Ones
Theatrical release poster
French	Les Pires
Directed by	Lise Akoka Romane Gueret
Screenplay by	Lise Akoka Romane Gueret Elénore Gurrey
Produced by	Marine Alaric Frédéric Jouve
Cinematography	Eric Dumont
Edited by	Albertine Lastera
Music by	Sebastien Pan
Production companies	Les Films Velvet France 3 Cinéma Pictanovo
Distributed by	Pyramide Distribution
Release dates	22 May 2022 (2022-05-22) (Cannes) 7 December 2022 (2022-12-07) (France)
Running time	99 minutes
Country	France
Language	French
Box office	$308,170[1]

Premise

The film tells behind the scenes of a shoot in the North of France. A film director chooses to shoot in the Picasso city, in Boulogne-sur-Mer. He sends out a casting, looking for atypical personalities: young school dropouts, ADHD sufferers, foster children, young people leaving home... He chooses two girls and two boys, Lily, Maylis, Jessy and Ryan. Everyone is surprised by this choice: why did he only take “the worst”? Local associations are worried about the impossible hopes represented by the easy life of a film crew, the filmmaker is worried about reinforcing the stereotypes he wanted to denounce.

The film portrays its heroes. Raised by his sister, Ryan suffers from attention disorders and hyperactivity and cannot stand the school environment despite the help of his life assistant. Lily goes from one guy to another, and we discover that she is weakened by the death of her brother, who died of cancer. Maylis, very little expansive, wonders about her participation in the shooting. Jessy, finally, plays the provocateur but he hides flaws too.

Cast

• Mallory Wanecque as Lily
• Timéo Mahaut as Ryan
• Johan Heldenbergh as Gabriel
• Loïc Pech as Jessy
• Mélina Vanderplancke as Maylis
• Esther Archambault as Judith
• Matthias Jacquin as Victor
• Angélique Gernez as Mélodie
• Dominique Frot as Ryan's grandmother
• Rémy

Production

Akoka and Gueret had previously made a short film, Chasse Royale, dealing with the practice of film casting. After that, they decided to create a story about film production.^[2]

Release

The Worst Ones premiered 22 May at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Un Certain Regard Award.^[3] It was theatrically released in France on 7 December 2022 by Pyramide Distribution.^[4]

Reception

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 100% based on 27 reviews, with an average rating of 7.5/10.^[5] Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 76 out of 100, based on 5 critics, indicating "generaly favorable reviews".^[6]

Awards and nominations

Year	Award / Festival	Category	Recipient(s)	Result	Ref.
2022	Cannes Film Festival	Un Certain Regard Award	Lise Akoka and Romane Gueret	Won	[3]
	Sarlat Film Festival	Best Actress	Mallory Wanecque	Won	[7]
	Festival des Avant-premières de Cosne sur Loire			Won	[8]
	Rome Film Festival	Do-Cine Rising Star Award for Best International Young Actor		Won	[9]
2023	Paris Film Critics Awards	Best First Film	Lise Akoka and Romane Gueret	Nominated	[10]
		Best Female Revelation	Mallory Wanecque	Nominated
	César Awards	Best First Feature Film	Marine Alaric, Frédéric Jouve, Lise Akoka, Romane Gueret	Nominated	[11]
		Most Promising Actress	Mallory Wanecque	Nominated
	Cabourg Film Festival	Prix Premier Rendez-Vous		Won	[12]

References

1. "The Worst Ones (2022)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
2. Lemercier, Fabien (25 May 2022). "Lise Akoka and Romane Gueret • Directors of The Worst Ones". Cineuropa. Retrieved 26 June 2022.
3. Lodge, Guy (27 May 2022). "French Film 'The Worst Ones' and Vicky Krieps Win Big in Cannes Un Certain Regard Awards". Variety.
4. "Les Pires : du casting à la réalisation". CNC.fr (in French). 8 December 2022. Retrieved 26 January 2023.
5. "THE WORST ONES". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved 14 January 2024.
6. https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-worst-ones?ftag=MCD-06-10aaa1c
7. Jousserand, Charlotte (12 November 2022). "Festival du film de Sarlat : "Nos Frangins" décroche la Salamandre d'Or, découvrez le palmarès complet". France Bleu (in French). Archived from the original on 12 January 2024. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
8. "Retrouvez le palmarès du festival des Avant-Premières de Cosne-sur-Loire". Le Journal du Centre (in French). 13 November 2022. Archived from the original on 12 January 2024. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
9. Scarpa, Vittoria (24 October 2022). "January triumphs at the 17th Rome Film Festival". Cineuropa. Archived from the original on 4 June 2023. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
10. "Ceremonie - Paris Film Critics Awards 2023 - Découvrez les nominations 2023 !" [Ceremony - Paris Film Critics Awards 2023 - Discover the 2023 nominations!]. Mulderville (in French). 23 January 2023. Archived from the original on 16 January 2024. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
11. Keslassy, Elsa (25 January 2023). "France's Cesar Awards Nominations Unveiled". Variety. Archived from the original on 25 January 2023. Retrieved 30 November 2023.
12. Caron, Christophe (19 June 2023). "Mallory Wanecque, "Linda veut du poulet"… Le Nord primé dans deux festivals de cinéma". La Voix du Nord (in French). Archived from the original on 13 January 2024. Retrieved 13 January 2024.

External links

• Official website
• The Worst Ones at IMDb