Cinematographer Raphaël Vandenbussche talks about his work on Prïncia Car’s "Les Filles désir" ("The Girls We Want")

Marseille in the middle of summer. At 20 years old, Omar and his gang, summer camp counselors and respected figures in the neighborhood, divide girls into two categories : those you fuck and those you marry. The return of Carmen, a childhood friend and former prostitute, upsets and challenges their balance, each person’s role in the group, and their relationship to sex and love.

The heart of the image is vitality. The idea is to always embrace a palpitation, a color, or a breath that overflows and collides with the frame. Prïncia is linked to the world of circus and street theater, so I understood that we needed a handheld camera that always revolves around the bodies, sliding from one to the other, and rarely focuses on a single head. I applaud the finesse of Flora Volpelière’s editing, which revealed and heightened the lines between the characters. The entire film crew played along with an instinctive and fast-paced shooting schedule over 24 days at the end of summer 2024, where I was the only non-Marseillais ! What a pleasure it was to spend a few months in Marseille, the city of desire, its inhabitants, its freedom of speech, the warmth of its faces.
The script was written collectively by Prïncia, Léna Mardi, and young actors from Marseille during workshops held over several years. I would like to thank the group for welcoming me warmly into the heart of their burning energy, their desire for cinema, and their lives.
I wanted a noble, rich image that would do justice to the beauty of the group. I didn’t want to spoil the digital signal or look for effects that would impoverish the image. I wanted to be generous, luminous, full, colorful. No filters.

The Venice 2 was the obvious choice, and the Cooke S6 lenses were a stroke of luck. TSF generously offered me this anamorphic series, which I cherish, especially the 32mm, which allowed me to stick close to the actors while seeing them larger than life. And the Rialto allowed me to shoot with a handheld camera inside a Kangoo while driving with nine people on board !
The setup reminded me of the shoot for Rodeo (Un Certain Regard, 2022), which I loved. For The Girls We Want, I was also able to get 10 days of B camera time, which I was delighted about. There’s a real camaraderie with the B camera operator, where we share our instincts, our tips on how to move around, our joys, our doubts, and our secrets before and after the shots. Mathias Sahnoune and Anaïs Andreassian took turns, with equal panache, discretion, and kindness. Each image captured by the B camera is like a gift to me : by tracking down the most accurate images and the most varied angles, we aim to elevate the film as high as possible.
The lighting was based on reality, with the ambition of pushing contrasts and color nuances. We wanted natural Marseille sunshine, without any special effects. I have fond memories of scouting locations on a scooter, the welcome we received from the residents of the Saint-Thys neighborhood, and the delicate, immense, and inspired work of Lili-Jeanne Benente on the set design. But above all, I loved meeting my team on set, a group of fearless people with whom you can walk down stairs backwards with your eyes closed, T2,3 without rehearsal : Anne Aylies on focus and Nordine Naïmi on grip.

As the lab was chosen after my arrival in Marseille, I wasn’t able to do any real tests. So I worked on a LUT on my computer, simple and generous in densities and saturations. The color grading at LUX with Fabien Pascal confirmed and refined this LUT, in a room with impeccable projection.
This is a tender and sunny first film, in which we see young men questioning and dismantling their view of women. Here, they cuddle, scream, and console each other for the wounds that will guide them to see themselves more clearly. Now it’s up to you to see the sparkles that we filmed with faith.
Hasta la vista, long live summer, long live Marseille, forever the first, and see you in theaters on July 16 !