François Ozon filming By the Grace of God
- Melvil Poupaud, Denis Ménochet and Swann Arlaud are among the cast of the filmmaker’s 18th feature, which is being staged by Mandarin Production
Working with the utmost discretion, as is his wont, François Ozon has been shooting his 18th feature film, By the Grace of God [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: François Ozon
film profile], since mid-February. The film is toplined by Melvil Poupaud (who was nominated for the César Award for Best Supporting Actor in 2017 for In Bed with Victoria [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Justine Triet
film profile], gave fine performances in films such as Laurence Anyways [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] and The Great Game [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], will grace screens from 14 March in When Margaux Meets Margaux [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], has just been filming Une jeunesse dorée, and is working with the director for the third time, following Time to Leave [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and The Refuge [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), Denis Ménochet (who turned heads in Inglourious Basterds [+see also:
trailer
film profile], won the Lumières Award for Best New Actor in 2012 for Les Adoptés [+see also:
trailer
film profile], was excellent in the recent title Custody [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Xavier Legrand
film profile] and has just been filming L’Empereur de Paris) and Swann Arlaud (César Award for Best Actor in 2018 for Bloody Milk [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Hubert Charuel
film profile], nominated for the César Award for Most Promising Actor in 2016 for Les Anarchistes [+see also:
trailer
film profile], popular in The Wakhan Front [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] and A Woman’s Life [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Stéphane Brizé
film profile], and set to hit screens later this year in Une histoire de l’art).
The story, written by the director himself, paints a portrait of three modern-day men: Alexandre, François and Gilles. They are around 40 years old, that age when men start to question things and begin soul-searching. The three men were childhood friends, nicknamed Alexandre the Catholic, François the adventurer and Gilles the hypersensitive. They will bump into each other, compare life experiences, and call into question their married, family and professional lives.
As a reminder, Ozon has been selected in competition three times at Cannes (in 2003, 2013, and last year, with The Double Lover [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]), four times at Berlin (in 2000, 2002, 2007 and 2009), and three times at Venice (2004, 2010, and 2016, with Frantz [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: François Ozon
film profile]) and San Sebastián (in 2009, winning a Special Prize to boot, in 2012, scooping the Golden Shell for In the House [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], and in 2014, with The New Girlfriend [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: François Ozon
film profile]).
By the Grace of God is being produced by Eric and Nicolas Altmayer for Mandarin Production, who are thus working on their seventh film in a row with Ozon. The nine-week shoot, scheduled to take place in Paris, the Ile-de-France region and Belgium, will wrap in mid-April. The partners (the full details of which will be made public soon) include Belgian co-producer Scope Pictures.
(Translated from French)
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