31/03/2006

On Monday, Carine Tardieu began shooting La Tête de Maman (lit. “My Mother’s Head”), with Karin Viard (Cesar for Best Actress 2000 and Best Supporting Actress in 2003) heading the bill alongside Cloé Coulloud, Kad Merad, Pascal Elbé and Jane Birkin.

Nominated for the European Film Awards in 2004 for her short film Les Baisers des autres (lit. “Other Peoples Kisses”), the young filmmaker worked with Michel Leclerc on the screenplay, which explores the complex relationship between an adolescent girl and her mother.

15 year-old Lulu (Coulloud) has always suffered because of her mother’s (Viard) melancholy, a sadness that nothing can assuage despite all the girl’s efforts and the help of her father (Elbé). Then she accidentally comes across some photos and a Super-8 film of her mother when she was in her 20s, and in which she appears perfectly happy, wrapped in the arms of an unknown man. Determined to find this man (Merad) and rekindle their relationship, Lulu soon finds herself out of her depth with some unexpected consequences cropping up as result of her plan.

Produced by Christophe Rossignon for Nord-Ouest Production, currently enjoying the success of Christian Carion’s Merry Christmas [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Christian Carion
interview: Christophe Rossignon
film profile] , La Tête de Maman has a €6.7m budget, including aid from the Ile-de-France region and co-production support from UGC , France 2 Cinéma, M6 Films (€600,000, including €450,000 from a pre-sale agreement) and Rhône-Alpes Cinéma.

The film is scheduled to shoot for11 weeks: 8 in Ile-de-France, 2 in Rhône-Alpes and one week in Sologne. UGC will distribute the film in France in the first quarter of 2007 and will also handle international sales.

(Translated from French)