EXCLUSIVE: Filming on the horizon for Alex Lutz’s Connemara
- Mélanie Thierry, Bastien Bouillon, Jacques Gamblin and Bruno Sanches are starring in this Supermouche and Incognita production set to be sold by StudioCanal
Monday 28 October will see filming commence on Connemara, Alex Lutz’s 4th directorial effort after Guy [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (revealed in Cannes’ Critics’ Week 2018 and nominated at the Césars six times – notably for the Best Film and Best Film Direction trophies – with two prizes to show for it) and Strangers by Night [+see also:
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film profile] (which closed Cannes’ Un Certain Regard line-up in 2023), to name but two of his works.
Stand-out names in the cast include Mélanie Thierry (nominated for 2019’s Best Actress César thanks to Memoir of War [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Emmanuel Finkiel
film profile] and for the Best Supporting Role award in 2017 and 2018, and hitting screens in La chambre de Mariana in March, as well as in Morlaix in 2025) and Bastien Bouillon (awarded 2023’s Best Newcomer César and nominated for the Best Actor Lumière via The Night of the 12th [+see also:
film review
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interview: Dominik Moll
film profile], recently well-received in The Count of Monte-Cristo [+see also:
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film profile], and hitting French cinemas in October in Partir un jour and Monsieur Aznavour, and next year in Pompeï and L’incroyable femme des neiges). Likewise in on the act are Jacques Gamblin (awarded Berlin’s Silver Bear in 2002 thanks to Safe Conduct [+see also:
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film profile], and nominated for the 2009 and 2011 Best Actor Césars via The First Day of the Rest of Your Life [+see also:
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film profile] and The Names of Love [+see also:
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film profile]) and Bruno Sanches (of the series HPI: Haut Potentiel Intellectuel).
Written by Alex Lutz (nominated for 2019’s Best Original Screenplay César via Guy) and Amélie Guyader in collaboration with Hadrien Bichet based on the homonymous novel by Nicolas Mathieu (whose other book, And Their Children After Them [+see also:
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film profile], was also recently adapted for the big screen), the story revolves around Hélène and Christophe, two forty-somethings both hailing from the same small town in France’s Vosges department. She graduated from a top university and has a career and two daughters. She’s fulfilled her teenage dream of getting out, moving to a different environment and succeeding in life. Christophe, for his part, has never left the hole where he and Hélène grew up. And he’s not as good-looking as he used to be. He now sells dog food, dreams of playing hockey like he used to at age 16, and lives with his father and his son…
Connemara is produced by Emmanuel Georges and Brigitte Ducottet on behalf of Supermouche Productions and by Édouard de Vésinne for Incognita in co-production with StudioCanal (who will also steer international sales and French distribution). Pre-purchased by Canal+, the feature film also enjoys support from the Grand Est region and "set bonuses" from the Departmental Council of Vosges and the towns of Épinal and Nancy, where shooting is set to unfold until 9 December, with Éponine Momanceau (nominated for the 2016 César in her speciality for Deephan [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Jacques Audiard
film profile]) heading up photography.
(Translated from French)
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