22/07/2013 - Now living in Berlin, the director of The Page Turner and Tomorrow at Dawn will release two movies in two months

"I started from a core-scene, an image that then irrigates the rest of the writing: the image of the young woman who cuts off a hand and gives pieces of it to her child to eat.” On Wednesday, July 24th, Zootrope Films will release the German-French coproduction La chair de ma chair in French theatres, the new film by the original French director Denis Dercourt whose last two movies were selected for Un Certain Regard in Cannes (The Page Turner [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Denis Dercourt
interview: Michel Saint-Jean
film profile] in 2006 and Tomorrow at Dawn [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Denis Dercourt
film profile] in 2009). Living in Berlin for the past few years, the director has also completed another German feature film, Happy Birthday (also known as A Pact), which will come out in Germany on September 19th.

Dealing with topics like the norm and maternal love, La chair de ma chair (lit. Flesh of my flesh) was written and edited by Denis Dercourt, who also handled the cinematography and sound. Played by Austrian actress Anna Juliana Jaenner, the film focuses on the character of Anna, who loves her daughter more than anything in the world and is ready to make many sacrifices in order to feed her. But the murder of several people close to her brings up doubts about her mental health.

Denis Dercourt explained: "I live very close to a psychiatric facility, which is in fact a prison where people deemed irresponsible for their behaviour at the time of their actions are treated. A neighbour, who works there as a nurse, told me about a few ‘cases’, including that of a young woman from whom the main character is inspired.” It is also worth noting that the filmmaker worked on distorting the image (in some shots, some parts are extremely clear while others are very blurry) to convey the fact that the heroine's "field of vision" is anything but unified and does correspond to our normal way of seeing things.

La chair de ma chair was coproduced by Cinema Alexander Platz (managed by Denis Dercourt) and Alexis Dantec and Fred Bellaïche for the Parisian company The French Connection. International sales are still being negotiated.

On September 19th, Denis Dercourt will release another film in Germany: Happy Birthday (aka A Pact). Played notably by Saskia Rosendahl (Shooting Star 2013 of the European Film Promotion), this feature film tells the story of two teenagers who make a pact in the early 80’s in East Germany, which will have repercussions 30 years later.  

(Translated from French)