Gainsbourg prepares to star in Bertuccelli’s The Tree
Recently crowned Best Actress at Cannes for her performance in Antichrist [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lars von Trier
film profile], Charlotte Gainsbourg will head to Australia in a month’s time to shoot Julie Bertuccelli’s English-language film L'arbre du père (“The Father’s Tree”).
This is the second feature by the French director who first came to attention with Since Otar Left (Grand Prize at Cannes Critics’ Week in 2003, Best Debut Film Cesar in 2004). Adapted from Australian author Judy Pascoe’s novel Our Father Who Art in a Tree, it tells the story of a family in mourning after the death of their father.
Penned by the director, The Tree centres on 10-year-old Simone, who has recently lost her father and imagines him speaking to her from the top of the large tree in the family garden. Soon, her mother (Gainsbourg) and brothers join in these nocturnal conversations, with the whole family perched on the tree-top, above the noise of the world and beneath the neighbours’ astonished gaze.
This remarkable mourning process is subtly explored by Pascoe’s novel, both from the point of view of the child, who matures quickly after her father’s death, and that of her mother, who is devastated by this loss, but clings to life through her budding relationship with another man (despite feelings of guilt).
Produced by Les Films du Poisson, The Tree has co-production support from Arte France Cinéma and Australia’s Taylor Média, backing from Backup Films and private Italian fund Dorje Films, as well as a pre-sale from Canal +.
Shooting will kick off in Brisbane at the start of August and wrap up at the end of October. French distribution and international sales are still under negotiation.
Headed by Yaël Fogiel, Paris-based company Les Films du Poisson also has the following titles in post-production: Emmanuel Salinger’s La Grande Vie (“The High Life”, to be released theatrically on November 4 by Le Pacte), Jean-Christophe Klotz’s Lignes de Front (“Frontlines”), Hadar Friedlich’s Hanna M and Mathieu Amalric’s Tournée (“Tour”).
(Translated from French)
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