Yannick Fourno – Ça va? Pas ouf.
febuary 2024 // Marseille

Music starts at 1:09 // EN subs available!

Anxiety is a curse that can’t even be told to those who do not suffer from it. It can take many forms : panic attacks, body tension, sleeping disorders, torpor… I suffer from anxiety, and so does Yannick, except he has chosen to to confront various stressful situations, like taking a bus, do some laundry in a laundromat, even interviewing people in the streets, while filming himself.

This is “Ça va? Pas ouf” (You good? Not great.). It’s a documentary centered around Yannick’s life, and I was able to work on this project because the conservatoire of Marseille has a partnership with the Documentary Writing Master in Marseille, where Yannick used to be.

That ending scene is notably significant. He’s spent the whole movie trying to cope with anxiety. He shows that taking the bus feels like a torment. Sometimes he couldn’t even walk into a bakery. He’s trying to fight against the eternal anguish that this strange world generates in him, a feeling that is accentuated by the fact that he has to carry a camera, heavier than ever.

Apparently the end wasn’t planned to be that way. He was meant to try a little bit harder before giving up. But that was enough for him and he decided to leave earlier.

He asked me to come up with a bittersweet melody for this moment of the film, something that feels joyous, offbeat while also being sad and tragic. I really tried to make this part seem ironic and creaky. Fun fact : I heard this melody in a dream!

The reason why I really wanted to work on this film is because people don’t really take anxiety seriously, and personally I don’t know what hurts me the most : anxiety itself or the fact that most of the people aren’t capable to understand that it’s a heavy burden. Maybe those two things are interconnected.

So please, remember we exist, and we are many around you!