At the famous Cinecittà studios in Rome, shooting gets underway this week on 36 vues du Pic Saint-Loup (“36 Views from the Pic Saint-Loup”), the new feature by seasoned director Jacques Rivette, whose latest work (Don’t Touch the Axe [trailer]) screened in competition at last year’s Berlinale.

The cast includes Jane Birkin, who appeared in Rivette’s La belle Noiseuse (“The Beautiful Troublemaker”, Jury Prize at Cannes in 1991), and Italian actor Sergio Castellitto (whose international reputation has grown further with The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian) who graced screens in Who Knows? (in competition at Cannes in 2001). The film also stars Julie-Marie Parmentier (Murderous Maids) and André Marcon.
Written by the director and his usual collaborators Christine Laurent and Pascal Bonitzer, the film tells the story of a little travelling circus whose founder dies on the eve of a tour. His daughter (Birkin) comes to the rescue, agreeing to temporarily put her life on hold in order to rally together the members of the circus she left 15 years previously. By chance, the group come across an Italian man (Castellitto) who gets involved in the adventure.

36 vues du Pic Saint-Loup is produced by Martine Marignac and Maurice Tinchant for Pierre Grise Productions for whom this is their tenth collaboration with Rivette (a successful partnership that began with Gang of Four in 1988). The title has received co-production support from France 2 Cinéma and Italian company Cinemaundici, an advance on receipts from the National Film Centre (CNC) and backing from the Languedoc-Roussillon region.

Scheduled to last seven weeks, the shoot will kick off with eight days in Italy before relocating to the South of France and more specifically the area around the Pic Saint Loup, in the Hérault region, between Montpellier and Cévennes, where Rivette made La belle noiseuse. The film will be lensed by renowned DoP William Lubtchansky, who is a long-standing partner of Rivette and also worked on Philippe Garrel’s latest two titles (Regular Lovers [trailer] and Frontier of Dawn [trailer]).

36 vues du Pic Saint-Loup will be released domestically by Les Films du Losange, who are also handling international sales.

It should also be noted that Pierre Grise Productions are currently handling post-production on Christine Dory’s Les Inséparables (“The Inseparables”, formerly known as Circuit fermé) which will hit screens in December; and Sophie Fillières’ Un chat un chat (“A Cat, a Cat”).