C'est La Vie
Released
2023
After a fatal accident sends a long-haul trucker into a spiral, he seeks solace in something new and exciting, only to discover he wasn’t the only one looking for relief from that fateful night.
Six months after a crash that killed a young girl, long-haul trucker Bobby Smittens is a ghost in his own life. He drinks himself to sleep, shows up late for everything, and is sorry for all of it. In a single morning his wife serves him divorce papers and the company he’s driven for over twenty years lets him go.
Then a stranger named Beth helps him pick up his papers outside a coffee shop and offers him a way out of the day. She leads him to a circus, puts him in greasepaint, and for the first time in months Bobby is laughing. But one little girl in the front row won’t laugh back, and she wants to know if he’s met her mother.
Directed by Collins Abbott White
Starring Adam Weber and Elisabeth Martin Hill
Director’s statement
Originally made as part of a 48 Hour Film Festival, C’est La Vie has been re-edited and expanded for a wider audience.
Beyond the experience of making the film, the final locked and rendered video sits in a surreal place. A theater of the absurd, if you will. A vivid and disturbing representation of our anti-hero’s view of “self” blended with the real-world unraveling of his life. It is the story of a life spiraling out of control, battered about by circumstances, where it seems like all choices are taken out of his hands as he is tossed from one soul-crushing tragedy to another. I find myself at some points pitying him, and at some points identifying with him. I hope that as an audience you will have a similar relationship with our main character, and that his life will spark self-reflection and conversation.
In a director’s statement it is generally accepted that I would talk about the plot, or the things that mattered most to me going into the film, and I have. But I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about what this film actually means to me, and what it showed me both as a filmmaker and as a collaborator.
This was the first time I had ever taken the 48 Hour Film challenge, and I was apprehensive to say the least. I was working with a new crew, under severe time and resource restraints, with no budget. Even on some of the biggest projects I’ve worked on, there have been times it felt like I was putting the cart on my back to get it across the line, and I was afraid this would be no exception. The night before production began we all met to go over the script (which was finished ten minutes after that meeting started), and we sat there for an hour brainstorming what we would do the next day. In short order all of my fears disappeared and I was certain we were going to make something special.
Each crew member was fully engaged from the word go, bringing every resource they had, calling in every favor, coming up with new ideas and running with them, taking complete ownership of their roles. The experience of making this film did wonders to bolster my faith in my fellow filmmakers, and showed me a deeper level of collaboration than I had ever felt. The quality of this film is down to the group of people that came together to make it happen, and each member of the cast and crew should be recognized for what they brought to the table.
Collins Abbott White
