15/02/2021 - Shooting has wrapped for the duo who shine up front in Lauriane Escaffre and Yvonnick Muller’s first full-length film, a Quad production sold by TF1 Studio

Actress Karin Viard and actor Grégory Gadebois

Lauriane Escaffre and Yvonnick Muller’s debut feature Maria into Life [+see also:
trailer
film profile] is now in post-production following a six-week film shoot in the Paris region which unfolded between 21 December and 5 February. Rewarded with 2020’s Best Short Film César and MyFrenchFilmFestival’s international press award for Pile poil, the filmmaking duo have once again called upon Grégory Gadebois (nominated for 2014’s Best Actor César for One of a Kind [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], for 2020’s Best Supporting Role César for An Officer and a Spy [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] and for 2012’s Best New Hope César for Angel & Tony [+see also:
trailer
film profile]; recently at his best in Night Shift [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Anne Fontaine
film profile] and soon to hit screens in Délicieux [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Présidents, En attendant Bojangles and Julia) to lead the cast of their movie, alongside Karin Viard (the winner of the Best Actress César in 2000, earning further nominations in the same category in 2005, 2012 and 2015, and again in 2018 for Jalouse [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], and yet another time in 2020 for Perfect Nanny [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]; handed the Best Supporting Role César in 2003 and 2019, in addition to nominations in 1998, 2009, 2011 and 2016; in cinemas in The Origin of the World [+see also:
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trailer
interview: Laurent Lafitte
film profile] and soon to hit our screens in Tokyo Shaking). Also in on the act are Philippe Uchan (a regular face in Albert Dupontel and Bruno Podalydès’ films) and Noée Abita (revealed in Ava [+see also:
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trailer
interview: Léa Mysius
film profile] and awarded 2021’s Acting Revelation Lumières trophy for her part in Slalom [+see also:
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interview: Charlène Favier
film profile]).

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Written by the two filmmakers, the story revolves around a woman who might have been an Albertine, a Françoise or a Josette, but who ultimately turned out to be a Maria... Which sees her regularly explaining that she’s not Spanish, Portuguese or Italian. Maria is a smiley, shy and awkward 45-year-old who works as a cleaner. She’s never without her floral notebook, in which she secretly writes poems. Oratio, an old bear of a man who’s been her husband for 25 years and who is indeed Portuguese, listens to Fado music all day long. When Maria is hired at Paris’s School of Fine Arts, she meets Hubert who has worked as the school’s erratic caretaker for 20 years. This "active depressive", who’s learning how to sway his hips Elvis Presley style, will bring a bit of colour to Maria’s cheeks. But our heroine has always been faithful, quiet, devoted and compliant – what will she do to resist his charms? And isn’t it high time she opened the door and let life flood in?

Maria into Life is produced by Foucauld Barré and Nicolas Duval Adassovsky on behalf of ADNP Quad Films in co-production with France 3 Cinéma and TF1 Studio (who will release the film in France via UGC). The film has also been pre-purchased by Canal+ and Ciné+, and is sold worldwide by TF1 Studio.

(Translated from French)