Director: Armand Robin, Producer: Théo Laboulandine, Writers: Armand Robin & Sandra Parra, Production company/Copyright holder: Melocoton Films, With support from: Pictanovo, La Fabrique des Formats, CNC Talent, Terrafemina, crowdfunding Ulule France, 2019, 6×3′, Rights: World except France
Polichinelles is a French short-form series. Salomé (Sandra Parra) and Marion (Magali Genoud) are a same-sex couple, whose relationship gets tested when they decide to have a child, by their family and the society around them.
Marion knows she wants to be a mother, on the other hand, Salomé still struggles to be proud of her sexual orientation and doubts her ability to be a mother. With humour, they face social constructs and the reaction of friends and family; André, Marion’s widowed father, as sweet as invasive; Baptiste, the joyful, bachelor best friend; Salomé’s extremely traditional parents, who ignore their daughter’s sexual orientation altogether. The reality of pregnancy and constructing a same-sex family has its highs and lows, inevitable conflicts that spur their desire to have a child together… or doubt it.
Sandra Parra and Armand Robin’s web-series seizes on this subject with gentle comedy. By electing for a “home” insemination, the couple offers us a lot of laughs … while sowing the seeds of potential conflicts with the future carefree biological father who is slow to realize the seriousness of the situation.
The series creators Armand Robin and Sandra Parra say this about the series:
“Intimacy and accident: Polichinelles is a small world where everything can happen anytime because it’s full of quick-minded humans, guided by their own emotions. Their story unfolds around the time when France introduced same-sex marriage laws in 2013. Polichinelles shows its character’s problematic as what it is, not as a transgression but as a choice constructed by personal questions, an intimate reflection, and a life long project. Marion and Salomé are, before all, a couple with whom we’re sharing doubts, dreams and a certain intimacy. A couple that wants to become a family. All their emotions are condensed in an energetic narration that is inherent in the 3 minutes format.
