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FILMS Belgium / France

Don’t Tell Her, a gamble on romantic comedy

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- Screened at the opening of the Be Film Festival, Solange Cicurel’s debut film will be released in France and Belgium on 4 January 2017

Don’t Tell Her, a gamble on romantic comedy
Camille Chamoux, Jenifer Bartoli and Tania Garbarski in Don’t Tell Her

Don’t Tell Her [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, the romantic comedy by Solange Cicurel, opens the Be Film Festival this evening, before it is released on 4 January 2017.

Laura, Eve, Anouch and Yaël are cousins and friends, and like all friends, they support one another through thick and thin, being there and helping one another through their often chaotic love lives. Laura has just separated from the father of her children, an untrustworthy husband who doesn’t hesitate to fawn upon her to try to get the warmth of the family home back. Eve has everything she needs to be happy: the perfect husband, a nice house, a pretty little family, but tired of her routine, she wonders if the grass is actually greener on the other side. Anouch only has one man in her life: her father. No suitor finds favour with him. Last but not least there’s gentle and sweet Yaël, who is about to marry her boyfriend Maxime, the perfect fiancé. Except that one day Laura sees Maxime in a cafe with a pretty girl. She immediately confides in the girls, who, following a brief council of war, make the necessary decision: don’t tell her!

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A former lawyer-turned-director, Solange Cicurel took the risk of making an atypical film in Belgian film tradition: a romantic comedy. A film about friends that broaches the topics of love, sex, friendship, fidelity and loyalty. Wagering on popular film is no mean feat, and to succeed, Solange Cicurel surrounded herself with a quartet of actresses with strong communicative skills, including pop singer Jennifer, here in her first major film role, who does well, with charm and spontaneity. Alongside her are new face Stéphanie Crayencour, who is radiant and bubbly, Tania Garbarski, who throws herself into the role of a romantic nymphomaniac, and Camille Chamoux, who confirms the talent we already know her for, most notably since her performance in Les Gazelles [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
. Accompanying this quartet of actresses is the ever-mischievous Brigitte Fossey. Turning to the men, the film features a mix of Belgian and French actors, of the likes of Laurent Capelluto, Fabrizio Rongione, Charlie Dupont and Clément Manuel on the Belgian side, and Arieh Elmaleh on the French side.

True to the ensemble film format, Don’t Tell Her also features a whole host of romantic (or not to romantic) situations, showing the different ways in which the characters go through their lives as a couple or a singleton, offering up a case study of people’s habits in this regard along the way. Is it always the right thing to tell or hear the whole truth? This is the question explored by the film. Is friendship dissolved by unconditional honesty or lies? The film doesn’t really give us a verdict, but highlights that love and friendship don’t shelter you from lies.

Don’t Tell Her is produced by Diana Elbaum for Entre Chien et Loup, which already tried its hand at comedy with success back in 2008 with Les Barons [+see also:
film review
trailer
Interview with director and actress of…
interview: Nabil Ben Yadir
film profile
]
by Nabil Ben Yadir. The film is co-produced by RTBF, Proximus, Other Angle Pictures in France and Orange Studio, and received support from the Federation Wallonia-Brussels and Wallimage. It will be distributed in Belgium by O'Brother Distribution, and in France by Sony Pictures.

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(Translated from French)

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