The future of Marguerite, a brilliant student in Mathematics at the prestigious Ecole Normale Supérieure, seems all planned out. The only woman from her year, Marguerite is finishing a thesis she has to present to an audience of researchers. On the big day, a mistake shakes all her certainties and all her foundations collapse.
Marguerite's Theorem (French: Le Théorème de Marguerite) is 2023 French-Swiss drama film co-written and directed by Anna Novion. It is about a female mathematics student at ENS whose career is upended when an error is discovered in her work. It premiered on 22 May 2023 at the 76th Cannes Film Festival. It was distributed in France on 1 November 2023.
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Synopsis
Marguerite is a young and brilliant mathematician, the only girl in her class at the ENS, entirely devoted to her passion. The day an error is discovered in her thesis, she is devastated. In a dizzy spell, she leaves the school, wiping out the past. She then dives into the real world, discovers autonomy, befriends the young Noa, and has sex for the first time. Matured by her experiences, it is in this new momentum that she manages to find a correct proof of her theorem.
Cast
Ella Rumpf as Marguerite Hoffmann
Jean-Pierre Darroussin as Laurent Werner, her thesis advisor
Clotilde Courau as Suzanne
Julien Frison as Lucas Savelli
Sonia Bonny as Noa
Cheng Xiaoxing (credited Maurice Cheng) as Mr. Kong
Idir Azougli as Yanis
Camille de Sablet as the trainer
Édouard Sulpice as a student
Yun-Ping He as a mahjong opponent
Karl Ruben Noel as the dancer
Ava Baya as the dancer's girlfriend
Gauthier Boxebeld as the manager
Leila Muse as the journalist
Esdras Registe as the colleague
Dominique Ratonnat as the professor
Capucine Chappey as Lucas's English-speaking friend
Production
To show mathematics realistically on the screen, Anna Novion worked with French mathematician Ariane Mézard, who provided all the equations written by the characters in the film, so that they are all authentic. Moreover, Mézard even made real progress on Goldbach's conjecture, the goal of Marguerite's work, for the film.
Release
Marguerite's Theorem was selected to be screened in the Special Screenings section at the 76th Cannes Film Festival, where it had its world premiere on 22 May 2023.
The film was theatrically released in France by Pyramide on 1 November 2023.
Reception
Box office
Marguerite's Theorem grossed $0 in North America and $1.2 million in other countries, against a production budget of about $3.2-3.4 million.
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 57% of 14 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.6/10.
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