Ride Above

Zoé was born and raised on a racing stable and wants to be a jockey like her father. Her closest friend is the yard's mare. On a stormy night the horse is spooked and tramples her; she ends up in a wheelchair. The same accident brings the mare's racing life close to an end too. The subject is not disability but starting again together. Zoé getting back on a horse is not presented as a miracle; the money, the equipment, the family arguments and the physical limits are shown one by one. The form is wide and built on landscape: the Normandy countryside, stables, racetracks. The horse sequences were shot with real animals in long takes. The source is a novel by Christophe Donner. Christian Duguay directs and contributed to the screenplay, having worked on large-scale family films before. The French title is Tempête, meaning storm, pointing at both the accident and the mare. Mélanie Laurent and Pio Marmaï play the parents and Carmen Kassovitz plays Zoé. Who it is for: viewers who like horse films and family drama. Who it is not for: anyone bothered by emotional manipulation; the film raises its register deliberately at the end and aims to make you cry.