Smet and Renier star in Pauline et François

by Fabien Lemercier

14/09/2009 - Final preparations are underway before shooting kicks off on September 21 on Renaud Fély’s debut feature, Pauline et François. Director of the short Le Passage des Bêtes (2002), Fély was also head location researcher, second team director and second assistant director on Pascale Ferran’s Lady Chatterley [trailer].

For his first feature foray, he has put together an impressive cast that includes Laura Smet (Frontier of Dawn [trailer]), Belgian actor Yannick Renier (Private Lessons [trailer, film focus]), Léa Drucker (soon to be seen in Denys Granier-Deferre’s Une Pièce Montée), Gilles Cohen (Public Enemy Number One - Part 1 [trailer]) and André Wims (who has just finished shooting Robert Mitchum Est Mort).

Co-written by Fély and Gaëlle Macé (co-screenwriter on Catherine Corsini’s Leaving [trailer], among others), Pauline et François centres on Pauline (Smet), a young woman who moves to a small town to work in the local bank. Her neighbour turns out to be François (Renier), a roofer from the region, whose sister Catherine (Drucker) works at the bank. But Pauline’s arrival opens up a rift and she suddenly finds herself caught between brother and sister.

Produced by Arnaud Louvet for Aeternam Films, Pauline et François was selected for the Emergence Workshops. It has a €530,000 advance on receipts from the National Film Centre (CNC), a pre-sale from TPS and backing from the Centre and Limousin regions.

Shooting is scheduled to last until October 20. Domestic distribution will be handled by Haut et Court, while international sales are still under negotiation.

(Translated from French)