Robert Guédiguian's 'La gazza ladra' Returns to the Estaque Microcosm

Robert Guédiguian's latest film, 'La gazza ladra' (La pie voleuse, France, 2024), returns to the Estaque, the historic fishing village turned 16th arrondissement of Marseille where the director was born. The film follows Maria, a home helper played by Ariane Ascaride (Guédiguian's wife and muse), who steals from the elderly she cares for, including Monsieur Moreau (Jean-Pierre Darroussin), a wheelchair-bound man. Her husband Bruno (Gérard Meylan) gambles away their money. Guédiguian, a militant communist intellectual, uses the neighborhood as a microcosm to explore themes of fraternity and solidarity against neocapitalism. The film includes a recitation of Victor Hugo's 'Les pauvres gens' and a romantic subplot between the protagonists' thirty-something children. Guédiguian's cinema, from 'Marius et Jeannette' (1997) to 'Gloria mundi' (2019), consistently portrays the working-class lives of Estaque's inhabitants, with Cézanne's paintings of the area serving as a metaphor for the appropriation of the poor's walls by the rich. 'La gazza ladra' premiered in 2024.