“I’m sure she’s the new Annie Ernaux,” says Claire Simon about one of the protagonists in her documentary “Writing Life: Annie Ernaux Through The Eyes of High School Students,” the opening film of the 68th edition of DOK Leipzig. With her latest film, the French filmmaker proves one thing above all else: her trust, her appreciation, her curiosity towards young people and also how valuable their thoughts, lives and personalities are. She achieves this with a simple means – she lets them have their say. 
Claire Simon has made a film about the writings of French author Annie Ernaux, accompanying young people with her camera during private conversations and, above all, classroom discussions. In classrooms and schoolyards, students discuss the books of Ernaux, who is known for her feminist, class-conscious, and timeless works about family and growing up. Simon manages to meet the students on equal terms. You feel as if you are sitting in class with them and get incredibly close to them in the process. It is a closeness very similar to that felt when reading Annie Ernaux. In her books, she achieves this through her so-called “flat” writing, through unvarnished facts and shameless descriptions of sexuality, obsession, or family. Claire Simon translates this incomparable honesty and intimacy into her documentary film through the physical proximity of the camera to the protagonists.
The idea of having a camera so close to your face and showing yourself as vulnerably and at the same time as strongly as these young people do seems impossible. But Simon overcomes this hurdle for her protagonists through her genuine interest in them. As a camerawoman, she almost seems like a friend of the same age whom the young adolescents can confide in. They talk about their relationships with their parents and how uncomfortable it is for them to discuss topics such as contraception or family secrets. Claire Simon and Annie Ernaux’s texts become a mouthpiece for the young people. No better film about Annie Ernaux could have been made, even if she only speaks through her books. The film is captivating for both people who know her books and those who have never heard of her. Passages from Ernaux’s life are read aloud several times during class, making the film accessible to a wide audience. The honest conversations about Ernaux’s texts are just as exciting as the works themselves. The students read passages that they feel particularly understand, that they find too explicit or sometimes completely incomprehensible. It is extremely exciting to be able to look at the faces of the readers. They giggle uncomfortably, suddenly become very serious, blush, or misread. Ernaux’s books are so successful because readers feel seen and represented in them. They find words for feelings and circumstances that are difficult for us to explain. The film reflects this well. The books and classroom discussions enable students to talk freely about their own experiences. The basis for the discussions is created by Ernaux’s breaking of all taboos. This creates a space in which young people can show themselves to be as vulnerable and strong as few of us can. Elisa