07/01/2010

How can you not feel moved on discovering that a teenage girl is secretly living in a maisonette in your garden? This is the first reaction of a middle-class, provincial couple in their 50s, who are far from suspecting that the lovely misfit is spinning a dreadful trap for them in the thriller Sweet Evil. This debut feature by Olivier Coussemacq will have its market première at the Rendez-vous with French Cinema organised in Paris by Unifrance from January 14-18.

Played by Anaïs Demoustier (nominee for Best Female Newcomer Cesar 2009 for Grown Ups [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] and Shooting Star 2010 of European Film Promotion), squatter Céline is 15 years old with a mother in prison. Having run away from her foster family, the teenage girl gradually worms her way into the life of judge Van Eyck (Pascal Greggory - nominee for Best Supporting Actor Cesar 2008 for La Vie En Rose) and his feminism-besotted wife (Ludmila Mikael), becoming a sort of substitute daughter for this humanist and childless old couple.

But the many lies and schemes of this seductress, who is smarter then she appears, end up causing confusion, then destruction in the house. Written by the director, the film plays on the forces of confrontation between classes and generations in a shady atmosphere where the reproduction of social and psychological patterns stands out like a dark inevitability ("Evil takes many forms!").

Sweet Evil, which offers quality performances by its three lead actors, was produced by Nicolas Brevière for Local Films. Its small, €1.07m budget includes a pre-sale from Ciné Cinéma, backing from the Picardy, Franche-Comté and Limousin regions, and support from the Gan Foundation.

Zelig Films will release the title in French theatres on March 17, while Umedia is handling international sales.

Among its films in post-production, Local Films also has Julien Donada’s romantic drama Beau Rivage (“Beautiful Shore”), starring French actor Daniel Duval and Italian actress Chiara Caselli (The Father of My Children [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mia Hansen-Løve
film profile]). This film received an advance on receipts from the National Film and Moving Image Centre (CNC).

(Translated from French)