The heroine of Swiss cinema shakes up a male-dominated world as a brilliant academic. There was a standing ovation in Cannes.
There are actresses who dream in vain all their lives of being invited to the Croisette by the most important film festival in the world. Then there are the lucky kids like Ella Rumpf, who left a lasting mark on Cannes at the age of 28. As part of the official selection as well as in the no less famous rival event, Quinzaine.
There in 2016, Rumpf starred as a cannibal in the gory thriller Grave from later Balmain Award-winning director Julia Ducournau. Before her baptism of fire in French, this Swiss woman, born in Paris in 1995, had already made a name for herself in German-speaking countries. Her first film role in “Outside is Summer” was immediately followed by a real acting breakthrough: the award-winning drama “Chrieg.”
Following the success of “Grave”, Rumpf continued her international festival career in Berlin, where she first starred as the monstrous “Tiger Girl” before gaining the title of “European superstar”. But perhaps her best recognition came at the Cannes Film Festival at the end of May: no one received more applause after the world premiere of “Le théorème de Marguerite” than the leading Swiss actress.
Emotional education of the mathematician
“Le théorème de Marguerite” describes the fictional story of a doctoral student who stumbles upon it shortly before receiving her doctorate. When the brilliant mathematician presented her proof of Goldbach’s conjecture, one of her fellow students pointed out a serious gap.
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Two Beautiful Minds: Marguerite (Ella Rumpf) exchanges ideas with her colleague Lucas (Julien Frieson).
Outside the Box / Michael Croteau
After that, Margaret radically reinvented herself. She interrupted her academic career and began disrupting another male-dominated world: the local mahjong scene. Their ability to calculate odds at lightning speed allows Virgo to quickly gain the upper hand. But things aren’t just going well in the game: her sexual inexperience is also a thing of the past thanks to her newfound love of initiative.
Director Anna Novion tells all this with great enthusiasm and a clear intention to question gender stereotypes. Her heroine, Marguerite, not only has different traits from the real mathematician Ariane Mézard. The French director freely admits that she recognizes her younger self in the androgynous main character.
Ella Rumpf, The Trump Card of Language
However, the character of Marguerite has a greater influence than Anna Novion or Ariane Mézard on the talented young woman she embodies: Ella Rumpf. Essentially, the film is a showcase for the bilingual Swiss woman who cheerfully speaks French and dominates every scene.
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Our breakout star: Ella Rumpf (left) in the new comedy about the fear of flying, “Fearless Flyers.”
Cuban Film / Brynjar Snaïr Thrðstarsson.
Rumpf’s good language skills can currently be admired in two films. In the Icelandic-British co-production “Fearless Flyers,” the Swiss plays Koko: a poignant character who – like comedy itself – can get on your nerves with her affected manner.
The fear of flying in time joke would not be worth mentioning. If only Ella Rumpf hadn’t starred alongside world-famous actors like Timothy Spall – who most people know as Peter Pettigrew from “Harry Potter.” Without any false fear of big names, but with accent-free English of course.
Cinema release: December 14, 2023
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