Films designed for a pre-adolescent audience are not legion in Quebec. With No chicane in my cabin, her charming first feature film, director Sandrine Brodeur-Desrosiers wanted to offer young people in this age group – 9 to 12 years old – a dramatic comedy that looks like them.

Justine, 12, has always been a happy child. But for some time, the atmosphere has become heavy at home, because his parents are bickering all the time. The girl is convinced that the solution to this problem is through a divorce. However, his parents have no intention of separating. With the help of her friends and classmates, Justine will come up with a clever plan to achieve her ends, by staging a mock trial that will be presented as part of the end-of-year show.

Humor and tenderness

Bringing to the screen an original script that she co-wrote with novelist Maryse Latendresse, Sandrine Brodeur-Desrosiers has concocted a light and unpretentious family comedy that recalls in many respects the popular Tales for All of the 1980s. A dose of humor and tenderness, the filmmaker has found the right tone to tell this story, which implicitly addresses several concerns of young people of this age, avoiding imposing an overly moralizing discourse.

Both screenwriters did their homework by spending a lot of time with young tweens during the writing process, to make sure they brought their reality and worldview to the screen. This preparation work is felt in the accuracy of the film, even if the plot still has some easy shortcuts.

Around the young actress Charlotte St-Aubin, convincing in the role of Justine, Sandrine Brodeur-Desrosiers has brought together a group of dynamic young actors who bring a lot of spontaneity and naturalness to the film. The director also had a happy hand by entrusting the roles of Justine's parents to Isabelle Blais and Pierre-Luc Brillant, who form a real couple in life and whose complicity pierces the screen.