Business is murder in Moutout’s De Bon Matin

by Fabien Lemercier

14/06/2010 - After Work Hard, Play Hard [trailer] (in competition at Locarno in 2003, nominated for the Best Debut Film Cesar 2005) and The Feelings Factory [trailer] (selected in the Berlinale Panorama 2008), Jean-Marc Moutout continues to explore the downward spiral of the modern world in his third feature De Bon Matin (“Early In the Morning”), which started shooting ten days ago.

This French/Belgian co-production stars Jean-Pierre Darroussin (who recently shot Aki Kaurismaki’s Le Havre and Daniel Auteuil’s The Well-Digger’s Daughter), Xavier Beauvois (whose latest acting role was in Villa Amalia [trailer]), Yannick Rénier (Family Tree [trailer]) and Valérie Dreville.

Based on a real crime that took place in Switzerland, the film (co-scripted by the director, Olivier Gorce and Sophie Fillières) centres on Paul Wertret, a 50-year-old business development manager at the International Bank for Trade and Financing.

Arriving as usual at 8am on the dot one Monday morning at his company, he goes into a meeting room, takes out a gun and shoots dead two of his bosses. Then he locks himself away in his office.

Whilst waiting for the police to arrive, this man, who has never been in trouble before, looks back at the chapters of his life and the events that led him to commit this act.

De Bon Matinis produced by Margaret Menegoz for Les Films du Losange (who piloted The Feelings Factory and released Hands Up [trailer] last Wednesday) for around €4.7m. The budget includes co-production support from France 2 Cinéma, Rhône-Alpes Cinéma and Belgium’s Need Productions, pre-acquisitions from Canal + and Ciné Cinéma, and €256,000 in backing from the Ile-de-France region.

The eight-week shoot will take place in Annecy, then Paris. Les Films du Losange will manage French theatrical distribution and international sales.

(Translated from French)