24/07/2014 - Shooting has wrapped for the director’s sixth feature, an Epithète Films production that will be sold internationally by Be For Films

Yves Angelo

According to Cineuropa’s sources, on Saturday 19 July, Yves Angelo wrapped the shoot for his sixth fiction feature film as a director: Au plus près du soleil [+see also:
trailer
film profile]. Trained as a DoP (and with three Césars to boot), Yves Angelo has directed such titles as Colonel Chabert (which received six César nominations in 1995), Voleur de vie (in competition at Venice in 1998) and Grey Souls [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (three César nominations in 2006). For his new opus, he has assembled a cast including Sylvie Testud (who, among other accolades, won the César for Best Actress in 2004 for Fear and Trembling [+see also:
trailer
film profile], was nominated in 2009 for Sagan [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and won the European Film Award for Best Actress in 2009 for Lourdes [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jessica Hausner
film profile]), Grégory Gadebois (winner of the César Award for Most Promising Actor in 2012 for Angèle and Tony [+see also:
trailer
film profile], nominated for the César for Best Actor in 2014 for My Soul Healed by You [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], and soon to be hitting screens in Le dernier coup de marteau) and Mathilde Bisson (Atomic Age [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Héléna Klotz
film profile], The Maneater [+see also:
trailer
film profile]).

Written by the director together with François Dupeyron and Gilles Legrand, the story sees a judge (Sophie) come to realise during a preliminary hearing that the woman accused of the charge of abuse of a vulnerable person is the biological mother (Juliette) of the child that she adopted. Instead of stepping down from the case, as her lawyer husband (Olivier) asks her to, she is determined to fiercely pursue the woman, to the great displeasure of Olivier, who secretly gets in touch with Juliette without revealing his true identity to her. Initially he does it out of curiosity, in order to get to know the mother who adopted her own son, but also in response to his wife’s attitude, which he strongly disapproves of. A spontaneous relationship begins to develop between them until one day, Juliette finds out that Olivier is her judge’s husband and that he has been lying to her about his identity. She cannot understand what he’s looking for, but he is unable to tell her the truth. And so she decides to take her revenge…

Produced by Frédéric Brillion and Gilles Legrand for Epithète Films, Au plus près du soleil has been pre-purchased by OCS. It has also received backing from the PACA (Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur) region and from Sofica Soficinéma 11, Cofinova 11 and La Banque Postale Image 7 and 8. The feature was filmed between 10 June and 19 July in Hyères, Aix-en-Provence and Toulon. Distribution in French theatres is still being negotiated, and international sales will be handled by Be For Films, the new outfit managed by Pamela Leu (read the news).

(Translated from French)