Déja s'envole la fleur maigre

Paul Meyer’s DÉJÀ S’ENVOLE LA FLEUR MAIGRE follows a Sicilian immigrant family on their first day in the Borinage mining region in Belgian Wallonia. It is at the same time the last day for the disillusioned Domenico, who returns to Italy. With wide panoramas and a keen eye for detail, Meyer captured the contrasts in this unemployment-plagued mining area. He was the sole financier of this neo-realistic feature film that initially was a short commissioned film about the so-called smooth integration. The miners played themselves in largely improvised scenes. For the laborious post-synchronisation of the multilingual group, Meyer often invented the dialogues, as there were no sound recordings. In a later interview he said: ‘Even with the dramatisations I never felt that I had completely left the documentary form. I only translated what I’d seen and experienced.‘ The film was received favourably, but Meyer ended his career ingloriously, working for television. For many years, he had to pay off his debts. ‘I would have been much richer if I had sold chips.‘