THE DARONNES

Yeon-lee and her friends are a group of fifty-somethings for whom the life has not always been a walk in the park. A mother of three, now Single, employed in a cleaning company, Yeon-lee juggles as she can with the hazards of everyday life: a slacker son in no hurry to leave the maternal bosom, a boss who is a fan of mobbing and fiercely opposed to creation of a union, an unstable lover, a womanizer and a bottle addict... In Yeon-lee's entourage, things aren't much brighter, and all her classmates struggle in relationships and "love" stories as perilous as they are insecure: perverse tailgaters, libidinous boss, lovers manipulators, in short, a collection of toxic and desperate characters. It is based on the confessions of his mother (to whom the author confided a beautiful notebook for her to describe, in the form of a diary, her life, her friends and her love stories) that Yeong-shin Ma directed. Daronnes, and what could have turned into a sordid and pathetic testimony is transformed here into a wild comedy, certainly a little trashy, but devoid of contempt for his characters. Because these mothers are incredibly determined, and despite their modest origins, despite the accidents of life which mark their journey, they face adversity and constantly get back up, carried by a desire to get by and find their own version of happiness. Life and dreams do not die after fifty, perhaps even that's where they start, Yeong-shin Ma seems to tell us through Les Daronnes, and Once the book is closed, we have every reason to believe it. Les Daronnes received the Harvey Award for Best Foreign Book in 2021.