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PRODUCTION France

Xavier Giannoli shooting Marguerite in the Czech Republic

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- The filmmaker will immerse us in the “Golden Twenties”, with Catherine Frot starring as a wealthy singer who is always out of tune; production is handled by Fidélité Films and sales by Memento

Xavier Giannoli shooting Marguerite in the Czech Republic
Xavier Giannoli

In the Czech Republic, the home straight is in sight for the shoot for Xavier Giannoli’s Marguerite [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Xavier Giannoli
film profile
]
: the tranche of filming that kicked off there on 15 September is set to wrap on 19 November. This is the sixth feature by the filmmaker who rose to fame with Eager Bodies in 2003, and who has been selected in competition at Cannes on two separate occasions (with The Singer [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
in 2006 and In the Beginning [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
in 2009) and once at Venice (Superstar [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Xavier Giannoli
film profile
]
in 2012). A co-production involving France, Belgium and the Czech Republic, his new opus brings together Catherine Frot (nominated six times for the César Award for Best Actress since 2000, including in 2007 for The Page Turner [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Denis Dercourt
interview: Michel Saint-Jean
film profile
]
and in 2013 for Haute Cuisine [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
), André Marcon (Rapt [+see also:
trailer
interview: Lucas Belvaux
film profile
]
, Me Myself and Mum [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
), Christa Théret (nominated for the César Award for Most Promising Actress in 2010 for LOL [+see also:
trailer
interview: Christa Théret
film profile
]
and in 2012 for Twiggy [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, nominated for the Lumière Award for Best Actress in 2014 for Renoir [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Christa Théret
film profile
]
), Michel Fau, Sylvain Dieuaide and Aubert Fenoy in the cast.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

Written by Xavier Giannoli, the story begins in 1921, at the start of the “Golden Twenties”. Not far from Paris, it is a day of celebration at Marguerite’s castle. As happens every year, an array of music lovers gather there in support of a great cause. Nobody knows much about the castle’s owner, apart from the fact that she is wealthy and she dedicates her entire life to her passion: music. Because Marguerite sings – she sings her heart out, but dreadfully out of tune. Cutting a kind of Bianca Castafiore figure, she has always indulged in her passion in her own little world, and her hypocritical private audiences, who are secretly always laughing to themselves, behave as if she truly were the diva she believes herself to be. When a young, up-and-coming journalist who is trying to get himself noticed decides to write an extremely flattering article on her latest performance, Marguerite starts to believe even more strongly in her talent and expresses her wish to perform her first public concert. Ignoring her husband’s reluctance, she hires a former diva to help her and begins to train herself up for the big evening... The plot is loosely based on the life of American soprano Florence Foster Jenkins, who rose to fame thanks to her “minimally academic” singing during the 1930s and 1940s.

Produced by Olivier Delbosc and Marc Missonnier for Fidélité Films, Marguerite is co-produced by France 3 Cinéma, Czech outfit Sirena Film, Belgian firm Scope Pictures, ISF Cinéma and CN4. Having been pre-purchased by Canal+ and Ciné+, the film is also backed by the CNC’s advance on receipts, Eurimages, and the Cofinova 11, La Banque Postale Image 8 and Manon 5 Soficas. Furthermore, the movie’s DoP is Belgium’s Glynn Speeckaert.

Distribution in France and international sales for Marguerite will be handled by Memento, which launched pre-sales at Toronto.

This year, Fidélité Films has seen some very impressive results at the French box office with Nicholas on Holiday [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
(2.37 million admissions) and French Women [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
(almost 1.4 million admissions). The outfit currently has the comedy Une heure de tranquillité by Patrice Leconte (starring Christian Clavier in the lead – released on 31 December 2014 by Wild Bunch Distribution) and Pascale Pouzadoux’s La dernière leçon [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
 (starring Sandrine Bonnaire, Marthe Villalonga and Antoine Duléry) in post-production.

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(Translated from French)

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